Trudeau’s Liberal Gov’t Tears Itself Apart As It Scrambles To Address Trump’s Tariff Threats

From the Daily Caller News Foundation

A top official within Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet abruptly resigned, citing growing policy disagreements on how the country should respond to tariff threats posed by President-elect Donald Trump and his “America First” economic agenda.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland officially resigned from Trudeau’s cabinet on Monday, according to a letter she posted publicly and delivered to the prime minister. Freeland’s letter — which came just hours before she was supposed to deliver an address on border security with the U.S. — marks the latest turmoil to beset Trudeau’s government as he deals with a more adversarial partner in the incoming Trump administration and his Liberal Party remains beleaguered with poor poll numbers.

“On Friday, you told me you no longer want me to serve as your Finance Minister and offered me another position in the cabinet,” Freeland wrote to Trudeau. “Upon reflection, I have concluded that the only honest and viable path is for me to resign from the cabinet.”

The finance minister said the two had found themselves “at odds” in the past few weeks over how to find the best path forward for the country. However, she appeared to take particular umbrage with how to approach the “aggressive economic nationalism” presented by President-elect Donald Trump, who has threatened Canada and Mexico with sweeping tariffs unless both countries do more to stop the flow of illegal immigration and illicit drugs.

The U.S.-Canada border, while never experiencing the level of activity seen annually at the southern border, has witnessed an uptick in activity in recent time. There were more than 23,000 encounters by made Border Patrol agents in fiscal year 2024, more than doubling the 10,000 encounters experienced the previous fiscal year, according to Customs and Border Protection data.

“Our country today faces a grave challenge,” Freeland wrote. “The incoming administration in the United States is pursuing a policy of aggressive economic nationalism, including a threat of 25 per cent tariffs.”

“We need to take that threat extremely seriously,” she continued. “That means keeping our fiscal powder dry today, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff war.”

Trump, fresh off his electoral landslide victory over Vice President Kamala Harris earlier in November, declared on social media that he would be imposing 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada unless their governments met his demands on illegal immigration and other issues. The threat has since set off a series of reactions from both Canadian and Mexican governments.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum issued a public letter that gave her government credit for the drop in migrant encounters along the southern border and blamed the U.S. for the number of guns in Mexico. Sheinbaum also notably warned that the Mexican government would have a “response in kind” if Trump moves forward with his threat to slap a 25% tariff on all of her country’s goods.

In what has been a more diplomatic approach so far, Trudeau reached out to Trump to discuss the situation, and later said he “had a good call” with the president-elect. The Liberal Party leader soon afterward visited Trump at his Mar-a-Largo residence and detailed what more the Canadian government is doing to bolster border security.

The Mexican government has already been dealing with the fallout of the tariff threats, with a slate of major international businesses suggesting that they would cease investments in the country until more clarity is given on the situation. Freeland’s resignation appears to show that the tariff threats are also wreaking havoc north of the border, with top officials disagreeing on how to respond.

“That means pushing back against ‘America First’ economic nationalism with a determined effort to fight for capital and investment and the jobs they bring,” Freeland said, speaking on how Canada should deal with Washington, D.C. “That means working in good faith and humility with the Premiers of the provinces and territories of our great and diverse country, and building a true Team Canada response.”

Trudeau, who has served as prime minister of Canada since November 2015, may not be the country’s leader following elections next year. Recent surveys indicate his Liberal Party will face a beating at the voting booth in October 2025 against the Conservative Party, led by Member of Parliament Pierre Poilievre. The Conservative Party leader is also viewed by Canadians as better equipped to work with Trump, according to a new Ipsos poll.

In response to the threat of tariffs from the incoming Trump administration, Poilievre has called for the Canadian government to beef up border security and tighten visa rules on legal immigration.

“What we are seeing is the government of Canada itself is spiraling out of control, right before our eyes and at the very worst time,” Poilievre said during a press conference Monday in reaction to the news, in which he detailed the country’s dire economic situation and political instability of the Trudeau government. “Out of control immigration has led to refugee camps opening in suburban Canada and then we have 500,000 in the country illegally, according to government estimates.”

“We cannot accept this kind of chaos, division, weakness while we’re staring down the barrel of 25% tariff from our biggest trading partner and closest ally, which by the way is headed by a newly elected president with a strong and fresh mandate, a man who can spot weakness from a mile away,” he continued.

Related Topics:#DailyCaller #JasonHopkins CanadaUSRelations TrudeauFreeland TrumpTariffs USReactionToFreelandResignation

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NEWT GINGRICH: Europe’s Elites Were Finally Told To Take A Look In The Mirror

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Trump fires chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, appoints new military leader

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NEWT GINGRICH: Europe’s Elites Were Finally Told To Take A Look In The Mirror

Published on February 22, 2025

Todayville

From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Newt Gingrich

In an amazing show of courage, Vice President J.D. Vance offered an intervention for some of our European allies.

That is the best way to think of the two historic speeches he made in France and Germany last week.

In Paris, Vice President Vance pledged the United States would do whatever it takes to lead the world in the development of Artificial Intelligence. He went on to assert that Europe’s automatic response to regulate technological change rather than adapt to it was doomed to fail.

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Vance warned the Europeans that the Trump administration would retaliate to protect American high-tech companies from being fined and regulated by the European community.

Then, Vance went to the Munich Security Conference. It is the annual meeting of European leaders concerned about defense and threats to peace. The Vice President shocked the Europeans by launching a frontal assault on the decay of their political system.

As Vance put it:

“But while the Trump administration is very concerned with European security and believes that we can come to a reasonable settlement between Russia and Ukraine, and we also believe that it’s important in the coming years for Europe to step up in a big way to provide for its own defense, the threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia, it’s not China, it’s not any other external actor. And what I worry about is the threat from within, the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values — values shared with the United States of America.”

He then went through a litany of specific complaints about the behavior of different European countries. They ranged from failing to control immigration, suppressing free speech, and Brussels seeking to control and define futures of independent countries such as Hungary and Romania.

The leading French newspaper, Le Monde (their equivalent of the New York Times) asserted that the American Vice President was declaring “ideological war on Europe.”

Le Monde was right. The European elites have been decaying for at least two generations. They hide behind their privileged status and take ideological positions that feel good but are destructive. Europe’s failures are devastating for most everyday Europeans.

I have personal knowledge about this. I have a Ph.D. in Modern European History – and I have lived in France, Germany, Belgium and Italy. As a young Army dependent, we were living in France when the French Army came back from Algeria, killed the French Fourth Republic and brought back General Charles de Gaulle to establish the Fifth Republic.

It is now the longest serving non-royal government in French history.

The European elites value each other’s opinions more than they value serving the people of Europe. The European elites live in a fantasy world of green policies that destroy industries and jobs, welfare policies which destroy the work ethic, and immigration policies which undermine the popular culture. They simply hope for a peaceful world without a strong military.

Meanwhile, state enforced speech codes protect Islamic extremists at the expense of local citizens.

The result has been a steady decline of European culture, economic development, and defensive capacity.

The Afghan Islamist who wounded more than two dozen people and killed a mother and her two-year-old daughter with a car two days before the supposed security conference signals the willful avoidance of reality at the heart of the elite European worldview.

To be clear, I admire European civilization. I believe America is far stronger and safer if Europe is healthy and capable of growing and defending itself.

I hope vice president Vance’s intervention at least starts European elites thinking about what must be done to revive their continent.

For more commentary from Newt Gingrich, visit Gingrich360.com. Also subscribe to the Newt’s World podcast.

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Trump fires chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, appoints new military leader

Published on February 22, 2025

Todayville

From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Mariane Angela

President Donald Trump announced Friday the dismissal of General Charles Brown, the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump expressed his gratitude toward Brown for his extensive contributions and leadership, wishing him and his family a prosperous future. Brown’s departure marks a pivotal moment in U.S. military leadership following over 40 years of service.

“I want to thank General Charles “CQ” Brown for his over 40 years of service to our country, including as our current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is a fine gentleman and an outstanding leader, and I wish a great future for him and his family,” Trump wrote.

Simultaneously, Trump introduced his nominee for Brown’s successor.

“Today, I am honored to announce that I am nominating Air Force Lieutenant General Dan “Razin” Caine to be the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. General Caine is an accomplished pilot, national security expert, successful entrepreneur, and a “warfighter” with significant interagency and special operations experience,” Trump said.

Trump said Caine’s appointment comes after he was overlooked for advancement during former President Joe Biden’s presidency.

“General Caine was passed over for promotion by Sleepy Joe Biden. But not anymore! Alongside Secretary Pete Hegseth, General Caine and our military will restore peace through strength, put America First, and rebuild our military,” Trump said. President Trump also announced plans to appoint five additional senior military officials, tasks he has delegated to Secretary Hegseth.

It was reported Thursday that Hegseth plans to dismiss Brown as part of President Trump’s commitment to eliminate “wokeness” from the military. Brown reportedly appears on a list of proposed removals submitted to Congress.

Brown had previously expressed his wish to retain his position even after Trump took office, and according to sources speaking to NBC News in Dec. 2024, Trump seemingly moderated his views on the general. Biden nominated Brown as chairman in 2023, and despite a heated confirmation hearing where senators scrutinized his alleged implementation of racial quotas in Air Force hiring practices, he was confirmed.

Meanwhile, Brown’s replacement, Caine, took office as the associate director for Military Affairs at the CIA on Nov. 3, 2021, after serving as the director of Special Programs at the Pentagon. Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, an F-16 pilot with extensive experience including over 150 combat hours, was commissioned in 1990 and has held numerous key roles, from the White House staff to special operations, and balances his military career with entrepreneurial ventures.