Few likely expected the first significant act of foreign policy of President-elect Donald Trump’s second term to take place before he even took office, but that’s exactly what happened this month when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he would resign as the country’s leader amid internal party turmoil over his response to Trump’s threats of tariffs against Canada.
Certainly, Trump’s antagonism and taunting of Trudeau in recent weeks — threats of 25% tariffs on Canadian imports, ridiculing Trudeau as “governor” and suggesting Canada become the 51st state — were not the only things to cause Trudeau’s political star to fall. The Canadian leader has faced plummeting poll numbers and backlash over immigration and high inflation. But it was the shock resignation last month of Trudeau’s Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, who faulted Trudeau in her resignation letter for failing to take Trump’s tariffs threat seriously, that made Trudeau’s hold on power untenable and ultimately forced him to give up his party’s mantle.
What should we make of the fact that Trump, not yet installed in the White House, was able to help force the ouster of a major world leader simply by pulling his signature move of picking fights and threatening tariffs? It’s tempting to pin Trudeau’s resignation on Trump’s natural talents as a disruptor, but there may be something bigger going on. Trudeau and his Liberal Party were able to hold onto power through all four years of the first Trump administration, which saw plenty of name-calling and trade skirmishes between the United States and our neighbor to the north. Now, with Trudeau on the way out just weeks after Trump’s reelection and the ruling Liberal Party facing the greatest threat to its control of Parliament in years, perhaps we’re seeing not just the return of Trump to power but for the first time the ascendance of his brand of nationalist politics and economic policy in countries and institutions around the world.
The Liberal Party’s move to assume a war footing on trade relations with the United States is evidence of that shift. So is the rhetoric from Canadian Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, the odds-on favorite to be Canada’s next prime minister, who has made the distinctly Trumpian pitch to Canadian voters that he will fix Canada’s “broken border,” “put Canada first,” and secure a “great deal” on trade with the United States. If that’s the message Canadian voters want to empower, and polls suggest it is, it’s little wonder Trudeau’s days as prime minister are numbered.
Canada isn’t the only country moving in this direction. In the United Kingdom and Germany, right-wing populist parties are gaining momentum. It may not be a coincidence that Trudeau’s resignation marks the departure of the last G7 leader still in power since before the Trump era.
And here in America, institutions and caucuses that were bastions of resistance during the first Trump term are increasingly showing an interest in playing by his rules: Since Nov. 5, tech CEOs have cozied up to the president-elect. Scores of House Democrats defected from their leadership to pass a bill that would crack down on illegal immigration. Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania became the first Democratic senator to accept an invitation to meet Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
This realignment suggests that even if Trump has not won broad popularity at home or abroad, his brand has caught on and institutions are paying credence to his nationalist platform in a way we didn’t see during Trump’s first term. That’s worth keeping an eye on as we embark on a second Trump term. Trump’s personality may command the center of attention as much as it did last time around, but just as important will be how institutions in the United States and around the world may change under his influence.
Baltimore Sun editorial writers offer opinions and analysis on news and issues relevant to readers. They operate separately from the newsroom.
