Trudeau to resign as Canada PM, ruling party to choose new leader

OTTAWA, Canada — Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation Monday, saying he would leave office as soon as his party chooses a new leader, with slumping polls and internal division taking their toll.

After more than nine years in power, Trudeau's support within the ruling Liberal party began crumbling in 2024 due to intensifying public criticism focused on the rising cost of living.

His authority was then shaken by the surprise departure last month of his finance minister and deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland.

"I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister, after the party selects its next leader," Trudeau told a news conference in Ottawa following a slow-rolling political crisis that saw top Liberal allies urge him to quit.

It was not immediately clear how long Trudeau, 53, would remain in office as a caretaker premier.

He said the Liberal leadership race will be "a robust, nationwide competitive process."

That means Trudeau will continue to lead Canada when incoming US president Donald Trump takes office this month and will be tasked with leading the country's initial response to the new US administration, including a possible trade war.

Trump has vowed to impose 25-percent tariffs on all Canadian imports, which could prove devastating to the Canadian economy, and Trudeau has pledged to retaliate.

The US president-elect reacted to Trudeau's quitting by again airing his unlikely proposal that Canada should merge with its southern neighbor.

"Together, what a great Nation it would be!!!" he wrote on social media.

US President Joe Biden's outgoing administration praised Trudeau as a "stalwart friend" of the United States.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Washington would "stand with" Canada and its people as they pick a new leader.

Before taking over the Liberal party in 2013, Trudeau was not a leading political figure.

His most prominent political attribute at the time was arguably the fact that his father, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, had been one of Canada's most famous prime ministers.

But Trudeau's youthful energy and fluency on issues that increasingly mattered to Canadians, including climate