Trudeau To Step Down After Near Decade Atop Canadian Politics |
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he will resign as head of Canada’s Liberal Party and as prime minister yesterday, saying it was “time for a reset” and internal party divisions mean he is not its best standard bearer. Trudeau will remain in office as his replacement is chosen in a Liberal leadership contest, during which time the legislature will pause its activities. The opposition Conservatives hold a strong polling lead ahead of the country’s next election, which is due by October.
Trudeau led the Liberals to three national election victories since 2015, but in recent years the party’s approval slumped in the face of economic strains. Top Liberal officials have also clashed about how to best respond to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threats, while the country’s finance minister and deputy prime minister abruptly resigned in December. Trudeau’s foreign policy tenure was marked by the renegotiation of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal, diplomatic tension with China and India, and a turn in more recent years toward a more restrictive immigration policy. (CBC, NYT, Economist, Reuters)
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“Trudeau's exit may reveal how much of the current political polling—the Conservative lead and the Liberals’ struggles—was rooted in his continued presence. His impending resignation will also force the Liberal Party to decide—however quickly—what and how it wants to be without him, questions it hasn’t had to ask in more than twelve years,” CBC’s Aaron Wherry writes. “The U.S. has elected a president who doesn’t always see the virtue or benefits of a stable trading relationship, even inside North America,” CFR Senior Fellow Brad W. Setser said at a conversation on the future of global tariffs and trade. “It could be somewhat painful, for all parties, if President Trump goes forward with 25 percent tariffs with some of our closest trading partners, who have production chains that are very integrated into our own.”
Trudeau discussed Canadian foreign policy in an appearance at CFR in April 2023, as did then Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland in October 2024.
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Pentagon Blacklists China’s Largest Battery, Tech Firms |
The Defense Department will add China’s largest tech company, Tencent, and its largest battery maker, CATL, to a list of firms deemed to be contributing to Beijing’s military buildup. The designation bans the companies from U.S. military contracts starting in June 2026, also sending a signal to other U.S. businesses about working with them. CATL and the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately comment, while Tencent said its inclusion on the list was “clearly a mistake.” (WaPo) In this episode of The President’s Inbox podcast, CFR Senior Fellow Rush Doshi discusses Washington’s China strategy. Indonesia: Jakarta joined the BRICS group of countries as a full member yesterday. The group opened its doors last year from its previous membership of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa to also include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). As Southeast Asia’s largest economy, Indonesia’s foreign minister cited a desire to increase cooperation with developing countries. (Bloomberg) CFR’s Mariel Ferragamo looks at why the BRICS group is expanding. |
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Brazil Sends Data From Downed Azerbaijan Airlines Plane to Kazakhstan |
Investigators in Brazil, where the plane that crashed on December 25 was made, sent its flight data to authorities in Kazakhstan. Azerbaijan’s government has accused Russia of shooting down the plane over Kazakhstan and covering up the incident. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Russian air defense systems were firing in the area of the crash and apologized for the incident, but stopped short of explicitly taking responsibility. (RFE/RL, Reuters)
Pakistan/UAE: Dubai is extending the deadline of a $2 billion loan payment from Pakistan that was due this month. Part of Pakistan’s current bailout program with the International Monetary Fund was contingent on other creditors drawing out their payment timelines. (Dawn)
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Middle East and North Africa |
U.S. Treasury Issues Licenses for Aid to Syria |
The Treasury Department will issue six-month waivers to allow humanitarian aid and essential supplies including fuels to reach the country. The move eased some restrictions previously in place on aid, however, the Biden administration left broad sanctions intact until more can be observed about the conduct of Syria’s new government. (WSJ) U.S./Oman/Yemen: The U.S. government transferred eleven Yemeni prisoners from its Guantánamo Bay, Cuba detention center to Oman, which pledged to assist with security monitoring and resettlement. The men had been held for more than two decades without being charged. The transfer leaves fifteen prisoners at Guantánamo Bay. (NPR)
CFR’s Jonathan Masters looks back at twenty years of counterterrorism and controversy at Guantánamo.
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Five Kenyans Freed in Public Questioning of Abductions |
The former detainees had previously disappeared during a spate of abductions of government critics, media and rights groups said. Kenyan authorities said little about the details of their cases, while the director of Amnesty International Kenya said the government “was aware of the abductions at the highest level.” Dozens of people are still missing after widespread antigovernment protests broke out last year, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights said. (AFP)
Ghana: President John Mahama pledged to restore and stabilize Ghana’s economy in his inauguration speech today. The former president has spent the last eight years in the opposition and was reelected by a wide margin in December in the wake of a sovereign debt default. (Bloomberg)
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EU Officials Push Back Against Musk’s Criticism |
United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer said “a line has been crossed” after Elon Musk amplified claims about British authorities ignoring gang action. Starmer characterized the comments as “lies and misinformation.” French President Emmanuel Macron and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store have also criticized Musk’s remarks on the internal politics of other countries. A European Commission spokesperson said the EU would closely monitor an upcoming streamed interview between Musk and a German far-right politician on Thursday to ensure it does not violate the bloc’s content moderation rules. (WaPo, Bloomberg)
Vatican: Pope Francis named Sister Simona Brambilla to lead a Vatican office that supervises religious orders for more than a quarter of the world’s priests. She is the first woman to lead a Vatican office. (NYT)
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Venezuelan Opposition Leader Meets With Biden |
Edmundo González Urrutia, whom the United States recognizes as Venezuela’s president-elect after a disputed July vote, met with President Joe Biden at the White House yesterday. It came just days before the scheduled inauguration of Nicolás Maduro, who Venezuela’s election authority declared the winner, on Friday. Biden voiced support for Venezuela’s “democratic aspirations;” González also met with an advisor to Trump. Separately, Paraguay recognized González as president-elect yesterday and broke official ties with the Maduro government. (Bloomberg, MercoPress) |
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Biden Bans Offshore Drilling in 625 Million Acres of Coastal Waters |
Drilling in the now-banned federal areas could cause “irreversible damage” and is “unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs,” Biden said yesterday. The orders do not cover much of the Gulf of Mexico, where most U.S. drilling occurs. Trump has pledged to undo the ban “immediately,” though that would require congressional action. (AP) |
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Council on Foreign Relations |
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