Trudeau says he won’t stay on as PM through election, despite Trump’s claims

Despite accusations by U.S. President Donald Trump that Justin Trudeau plans to use the tariff crisis to run for re-election, Trudeau says he’ll be resigning as prime minister as soon as his...

Source: CPAC

Despite accusations by U.S. President Donald Trump that Justin Trudeau plans to use the tariff crisis to run for re-election, Trudeau says he’ll be resigning as prime minister as soon as his successor as Liberal leader is in place.

After a phone call between Trump and Trudeau on Wednesday, Trump accused Trudeau of exploiting the tariff war to remain in power. The U.S. president repeated the claim Thursday morning, saying Trudeau would run to be prime minister again.

“Believe it or not, despite the terrible job he’s done for Canada, I think that Justin Trudeau is using the tariff problem, which he largely caused, in order to run again for Prime Minister,” Trump said on Truth Social. “So much fun to watch!”

During a press conference in Kanata, Ont., Trudeau put the allegations to rest saying he will not stay on in a caretaker role while Canada undergoes an election.

“I will not be doing that. I look forward to a transition to my duly elected successor in the coming days or weeks,” he said. “Regardless of our democratic processes, the fact that Canadians are as united as they are across provincial leadership, representing many different parties across an approach that has Canadians pulling together and being strong on defending Canada and focused on creating the kind of growth and resilience in our economy that we need.”

Trudeau said he doesn’t think undergoing an election during the trade war will be undoable, pointing to the fact that the premiers who will remain a constant during the election are largely united in standing up for Canada.

“Whenever it does happen, it will be an opportunity for Canadians to decide how they want to respond best in the coming years,” he said. “Even if there are political debates going on, the unity of Canadians is the single most powerful tool we have in our negotiations, in our engagement, in our standing up against these unjustified tariffs.”

An article from The Hub this week explored the possibility that if Mark Carney wins the Liberal leadership he would keep Trudeau on as prime minister through an election.

“It’s possible, but the reality is this whole notion of change and uptick in support for the Liberals is predicated on the idea that Carney is going to be the one in charge, not that Trudeau is still going to be sticking around,” Philippe Lagassé, a parliamentary expert said in the article. “Although never say never.

During the press conference, Trudeau noted that following the “colourful” yet “very substantive’ phone call he had with Trump, it was clear that the U.S.-Canada trade war would continue into the “foreseeable future.”

“We talked about a range of issues, of course, primarily the trade war that they have chosen to unjustly launch on Canada,” he said. “But there is also recognition that our two countries are deeply interwoven, not just in our economy, but in our people to people, ties and our history, and we should be able to continue to do big things together.”

He said that despite the tough talks of tariffs likely not being lifted, Canada continues to work to reduce the impacts of tariffs, particularly on harshly affected industries.

“Particularly in an uncertain world. So, the goal is to get these tariffs off. The Americans are continuing to look at different steps, including the early April marker of larger commercial and trade reflections, not just with Canada, but with the world,” he said. “And that is very much something that we are working towards as well, but our focus is on ending this trade war.”

In another Truth Social post, Trump announced he would be giving Mexico a tariff carve-out for anything that falls under his previous USMCA, North American trade agreement.

Trudeau said that the conversation had with Trump over the phone indicated that such a deal could be likely, though Canada will maintain its retaliatory tariffs against the U.S.

He announced a 25 per cent tariff on $155 billion of American goods on Monday – starting with $30 billion worth of goods immediately and the remaining $125 billion on American exports in 21 days’ time.

“There are obviously conversations ongoing right now with the US administration, but as I’ve said a number of times, we will not be backing down from our response tariffs until such a time as the unjustified American tariffs on Canadian goods are lifted,” Trudeau said.

The Liberal leadership race concludes this week with a new leader being announced on Sunday.