Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister, Resigns From Cabinet

Canada|Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister, Resigns From Cabinet

Chrystia Freeland, the deputy prime minister who led Canada’s response to the first Trump administration, resigned on Monday from her cabinet role as finance minister, according to her resignation letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The letter is a stinging rebuke of Mr. Trudeau’s policies, marking the first open dissent from any member of his cabinet and throwing into question his ability to remain as leader of his party.

The revelation came hours before she was scheduled to outline the government’s commitments to improve border security with the United States.

President-elect Trump has warned that he would impose 25 percent tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico unless those two countries did more to curb the flow of undocumented migrants and drugs across their borders with the United States.

In her resignation letter, Ms. Freeland indicated that Mr. Trudeau attempted to force her out of the position on Friday. Ms. Freeland had been playing a prominent role in formulating Canada’s response to the incoming Trump administration, leading a team of government officials preparing for the transition to a new president.

She had successfully renegotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement with the first Trump White House.

“For the last number of weeks, you and I have found ourselves at odds about the best path forward for Canada,” Ms. Freeland wrote to the prime minister.

She also described Mr. Trump’s threatened tariffs “a grave challenge.”

“How we deal with the threat our country currently faces will define us for a generation, and perhaps longer,’’ Ms. Freeland sad.

Recent spending decisions by Mr. Trudeau apparently made to boost the Liberal Party’s popularity, including a sales tax holiday and send checks to taxpayers, Ms. Freeland said, would undermine Canada’s economic ability to deal with the Trump threat.

This is a developing story.