Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada said on Monday that he would step down in the coming months, bowing to an angry electorate at a time of uncertain economic prospects and political infighting.
The announcement, which came amid a gridlocked Parliament, left Canada in political flux just as the incoming Trump administration has vowed to impose punishing tariffs on Canadian imports.
“It’s time for a reset,” Mr. Trudeau told reporters outside his residence on a frigid morning in Ottawa, the capital. Mr. Trudeau said that he had suspended Parliament until March 24 and that he would stay on as Liberal Party leader and prime minister until his replacement had been chosen through a nationwide party election.
“I truly feel that removing the contention around my own continued leadership is an opportunity to bring the temperature down,” he said.
Mr. Trudeau, 53, who rose to power nearly a decade ago and quickly became seen as a progressive icon, is the latest leader in the West to be swept aside by a mood of anti-incumbency, a backlash against immigration and anger at the lingering effects of a spike in inflation during the Coronavirus pandemic. Although inflation in Canada has receded to below 2 percent, unemployment remains high, at above 6 percent.
General elections must be held by October, a timetable that Mr. Trudeau referred to on Monday.
“It’s become obvious to me with the internal battles that I cannot be the one to carry the Liberal standard into the next election,” he said.
Mr. Trudeau has faced weeks of mounting pressure from inside his party’s ranks.
In December, Mr. Trudeau’s deputy prime minister and finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, abruptly stepped down, issuing a stinging rebuke of his leadership and stewardship of the country. Ms. Freeland, who had been a close ally of the prime minister, accused Mr. Trudeau of having engaged in “costly political gimmicks” and being ill-prepared to face the challenge posed by Mr. Trump.
Her resignation incited a growing chorus of voices from Liberal parliamentarians asking him to step aside for the sake of the party, and let someone else lead the party in general elections.
Mr. Trudeau also had been under pressure from a resurgent Conservative Party, which in recent surveys has drawn a commanding double-digit lead over the Liberal Party. The Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, posted a video on social media on Monday promoting an alternate vision of governing: “ax the tax,” referring to Trudeau’s unpopular carbon tax, “build the homes,” “fix the budget” and “stop the crime.”
The upheaval comes as Canada is debating how best to deal with Mr. Trump’s pledge to impose tariffs that would upend a trade agreement among Canada, the United States and Mexico. (Mr. Trump has also threatened tariffs on Mexico and says he wants both countries to address the flow of drugs and undocumented migrants into the United States).
Tariffs would be potentially ruinous for Canada’s economy, which is heavily dependent on exports, particularly of oil and automobiles. The United States and Canada are each other’s biggest trading partners.
Mr. Trudeau visited Mr. Trump at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence in Florida, in late November, and his government had been in talks to address the president-elect’s concerns about border security in hopes that he would reconsider his tariff threat.
The talks do not appear to have been fruitful. In early December, Mr. Trump mocked Mr. Trudeau in a social media post, describing the Canadian prime minister as “Governor Justin Trudeau of the Great State of Canada.”
On Monday Mr. Trump responded to Trudeau’s resignation by again suggesting that Canada should become America’s “51st state,” saying on social media that if Canada merged with the U.S. that taxes would decrease and that there would be no tariffs.
Among possible replacements for Mr. Trudeau are Ms. Freeland, the former deputy prime minister and finance minister; Dominic LeBlanc, who became finance minister when Ms. Freeland resigned; Mélanie Joly, Canada’s top diplomat since 2021; and Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of Canada, who also led the Bank of England.
Mr. Trudeau, whose government has been hamstrung by its lack of a majority in Parliament, said on Monday that the legislative body had been “totally seized by obstruction, and filibustering and a total lack of productivity.”
In his comments in French, he painted an even starker picture of a Parliament that “no longer functions.”
The suspension of Parliament, a process known as prorogation, will give his party time to pick a new leader, which Mr. Trudeau said would be through a “robust, nationwide, competitive process.” A new — and perhaps more popular leader — could put the Liberals on firmer footing in the upcoming national election.
Suspending Parliament wipes out all pending legislation but does not affect the government’s day-to-day operations.
Mr. Trudeau spent a decade building a political brand around being a feminist, an environmentalist, and an advocate for refugees and Indigenous people, pursuing the same message of change and hope as Barack Obama. But analysts say Mr. Trudeau’s brand, which appears antithetical to Mr. Trump’s, is no longer working for him.
“He caught a wave on his way in, and when you catch a wave, it can lift you up,” Darrell Bricker, a seasoned pollster and chief executive of Ipsos Public Affairs, said. “But on the other side, if you don’t get off, it will ground you.”
An Ipsos poll, published in late December, found that the Liberals trail the Conservatives by 25 percentage points.
Although the next election must be held by October, a vote could be called or forced earlier.
The Liberal government under a new prime minister could be short lived. And shortly after the new session begins, the Liberal government is likely to face a vote of confidence. It would likely lose such a vote, as it only commands a minority of the seats in Parliament and it has lost the support of all other parties. That would prompt a federal election.
The prime minister also has the power to dissolve Parliament at any time, which would also prompt an election.
