Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, trolled by President-elect Trump as the governor of America’s 51st state, announced that he would step down as the country’s leader.
With his resignation, Trudeau joins a long list of Western leaders who have failed to retain the support of their nation’s voters. President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris lost to Trump in a landslide in November. In France, Emmanuel Macron and his party, La République En Marche! (LREM), suffered significant losses in the European Parliament election and subsequent national elections. In Germany, Olaf Scholz and his Social Democratic Party (SPD) faced substantial losses in the European Parliament elections, which led to a weakened position in Berlin. In the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak led his Conservative Party to a historical electoral defeat in the 2024 general election, handing the government to Keir Starmer of the Labour Party.
Each of these leaders was a prominent supporter of the elitist, rules-based international order, including backing the ongoing war in Ukraine instead of pursuing peace negotiations with Russia.
Trudeau was, however, different from the above leaders in several ways. He was the longest-serving of them all, thrust into Canada’s leadership nearly ten years ago, in 2015, at the young age of 43, when Obama was still America’s president. Trudeau has always been an ultra-left liberal at heart, and this was evident in the way he governed the large country with a small population. He took his leanings from his father, Pierre Trudeau, one of the longest-serving Prime Ministers of Canada, serving from 1968 to 1979 and again from 1980 to 1984. Known for “Trudeaumania,” the elder Trudeau was renowned for his progressive policies, including legalizing homosexuality in Canada when it was a taboo topic everywhere in the developed world.
Trudeau first came to international attention for his aggressive management of the pandemic. His government quickly acknowledged the severity of the situation, and Trudeau held almost daily press briefings in the early stages to communicate updates and advice. The Prime Minister was visible as a key spokesperson, encouraging Canadians to adhere to public health guidelines like social distancing, mask-wearing, and vaccination.
The Canadian government launched significant financial aid programs, including the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), which provided financial assistance to those who lost their jobs or income due to the pandemic. He offered various loans and grants to small businesses. Deficits soared, and the national debt increased significantly. Trudeau publicly attacked anyone who questioned his approach and painted his critics as Nazis, alienating large sections of his voters.
Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act in response to the “Freedom Convoy” protests in 2022, which were against vaccine mandates and other restrictions, inviting the wrath of many Canadians. Truck drivers and supporters drove from British Columbia to Ottawa, protesting the federal vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers implemented on January 15, 2022. The protesters reached Ottawa and occupied major streets around Parliament Hill, blocking several key Canada-U.S. border crossings, most notably the Ambassador Bridge, one of North America’s busiest trade routes, causing significant disruptions to international trade.
With the Emergencies Act, law enforcement agencies assumed extraordinary powers, including the authority to freeze the bank accounts of those involved in the blockades and order tow trucks to remove vehicles from the protest sites. By late February, the situation in Ottawa and at border crossings was largely resolved through police action, with hundreds arrested.
The convoy underscored deep divisions in Canadian society regarding government trust, individual freedoms, and the handling of public health crises. It left a lasting impact on how protests are managed, the use of emergency powers, and discussions around freedom of assembly versus public order. By the middle of 2022, Trudeau’s popularity was sinking.
As inflation soared, the Bank of Canada had to increase interest rates in a play-by-play replay of what was happening in America. By mid-2023, polls indicated Trudeau’s approval rating had fallen further. An Angus Reid survey showed his approval at 40%, with disapproval rates at 55%. The decline continued into 2024. An Ipsos poll reported only 28% of Canadians believed Trudeau deserved re-election. His approval ratings hit new lows, with some polls showing disapproval rates at 65% and approval at around 30%. Interestingly, these numbers closely mirrored the wrong-track numbers of President Biden.
One factor that helped maintain Trudeau’s popularity was his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, a well-known former television host and reporter who worked for networks like LCN and TVA in Quebec. When the couple married 18 years ago, they became cultural icons as they traveled the world promoting Canada and wearing traditional local attire. But in August 2023, the couple announced their separation with an agreement to raise their three children jointly. The separation isolated Trudeau even more.
Around the same time, Trudeau created a diplomatic impasse when he accused the Indian government of sending federal agents to kill a Khalistan sympathizer in Canada. The country is home to the second-largest Sikh community in the world, and the Khalistan separatist movement has, for decades, sought to secede from India. In October, the BBC noted that the relationship between the two former Commonwealth allies had hit rock bottom.
President-elect Trump takes office in two weeks and eagerly seeks Western leaders who share his vision to bring peace to numerous trouble spots, limit illegal immigration into the United States, and have a fair and balanced trading relationship. Trudeau, who had profound philosophical differences with Trump, was an unlikely partner in all these matters. The incoming Trump administration will closely watch the developments in Ottawa, hoping that a Trump-friendly leader will take over the reins.
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Geopolitics, Geoeconomics, And More
1. 2 Georgians Among Detained Crew From Ship Suspected Of Damaging Baltic Sea Cable – RFE/RL
The captain and another crew member of the seized oil tanker suspected of damaging an electric power cable in the Baltic Sea last month are Georgian nationals.
The incident, one of several since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has raised concerns across Europe that energy and communications infrastructure are being targeted as part of what experts and politicians call Russia’s hybrid war with Western countries.
2. China Attaches Importance To Trump’s Remarks On Talks With Xi – Reuters
China attaches “great importance” to Donald Trump’s remarks, the foreign ministry said in response to the U.S. President-elect’s comments that he has been in talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping through their aides.
Trump had said he believed he and Xi would get along, but it had to be a “two-way street,” repeating that China has been “ripping off” the U.S. economically.
3. U.S. Says Tech Giant Tencent Works With Chinese Military – BBC
The U.S. has added several Chinese technology companies, including gaming and social media giant Tencent and battery maker CATL, to a list of businesses it says work with China’s military.
The list serves as a warning to American companies and organisations about the risks of doing business with Chinese entities. While inclusion does not mean an immediate ban, it can add pressure on the U.S. Treasury Department to sanction the firms.
Tencent and CATL have denied involvement with the Chinese military, while Beijing said the decision amounted to “unreasonable suppression of Chinese companies”.
4. Volkswagen, XPENG To Open Super-Fast Charging Stations To Each Other In China – UPI
The memorandum of understanding between German automaker Volkswagen and Chinese electric car firm XPENG would open more than 20,000 charging points to EVs from both companies across 420 cities around China.
The Chinese company, based in Guangzhou, said it has set up a research and development center in the United States and established branches in multiple locations in Europe.
5. Nippon Steel, US Steel Appeal Biden’s Acquisition Block – D.W.
The beleaguered US Steel and Japanese giant Nippon Steel jointly filed a lawsuit – at the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington – challenging outgoing President Joe Biden’s decision to block their acquisition deal.
The two companies accused the Biden administration of “illegal interference” in the transaction. Biden had blocked the deal last Friday, in an anticipated move after the failure last month of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to reach consensus on its potential national security risks.
6. Iran Nuclear Program Nearing ‘Point Of No Return’, France’s Macron Says – Al Jazeera
French President Emmanuel Macron has called Iran the main “strategic and security challenge” for Europeans in the Middle East, raising concern over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Speaking to French ambassadors posted around the world, the French president also criticized Iran over backing for what he called “dangerous groups” across the Middle East and supporting Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine. “The acceleration of the nuclear program brings us close to the point of no return,” Macron said.
7. U.S. Reallocates $95 Mln In Military Aid To Lebanon From Egypt: Source – Al Arabiya
Congress will need a reprogramming request, but sources believe it will be passed easily. The Biden administration made a similar move in 2023, diverting $30 million in allocated military aid from Egypt to Lebanon.
U.S. officials have said that support for the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) is crucial for U.S. national security interests, strengthening Lebanon’s state institutions and pushing back against Hezbollah.
8. U.S. Temporarily Eases Some Restrictions On Syria Following Fall Of Assad Regime – UPI
The sanctions easement – known as Syria General License 24, which was issued by the U.S. Treasury – will be in place for six months permitting transactions with the Syrian government, including the sale, supply and donation of energy sources, such as petroument, natural gas and electricity.
The move, however, does not remove individual sanctions nor permit transactions involving military or intelligence entities or with Iran and Russia, which had for years propped up the embattled Assad regime.
9. North Korea Claims Successful Test-Firing Of New Hypersonic Missile – Kyodo News
The ballistic missile launched by North Korea on Monday was a new type of intermediate-range hypersonic missile, and it successfully flew 1,500 kilometers(930 miles) to a simulated target at sea, the country’s official media reported.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was quoted by the Korean Central News Agency as saying the test-firing of the new missile was “mainly aimed to steadily put the country’s nuclear war deterrent on an advanced basis.”
10. North Korea’s Claim Of Hypersonic Missile Launch Likely ‘Deception’: Seoul – RFA
“It is assessed that North Korea’s claim of the flight distance and the second peak altitude is highly likely deception,” said South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, or JCS spokesperson Col. Lee Sung-jun during a regular briefing.
“The flight range analyzed by South Korea, the United States and Japan is around 1,100 kilometers and [the missile] did not reach a second peak,” Lee added, dismissing the North’s claim that the missile reached the second peak at 42.5 kilometers.
11. Nuclear Energy Stocks Enter 2025 On A High. AI Data Centers Need Them, A Lot – IBD
Nuclear energy stocks spent much of 2024 running at the top of the S&P 500. Constellation Energy (CEG), Vistra (VST) and other new nuclear-focused companies rode a wave of excitement as Big Tech scrambled to find the electricity needed to power its artificial intelligence ambitions..
Though regulatory hurdles and Trump-administration unknowns loom in the coming year, analysts remain bullish on nuclear energy stocks in 2025. They note that forecasts show electricity demand is not slowing down anytime soon, given the growth in AI and data centers.
12. Crypto Bull Market Entering Final Stage: CryptoQuant – Cointelegraph
According to data analytics provider CryptoQuant, the cryptocurrency market is now in the “later stages of the current bull cycle,” and investors are advised to exercise caution.
The bull market, which began in January 2023, is likely to reach its cyclical peak by the first quarter of 2025, or the second quarter at the latest, Crypto Dan, a CryptoQuant contributor, said in a Jan. 6 post. CryptoQuant’s cautious take contrasts with the views of most analysts, who expect the bull run to continue through the end of 2025, potentially correcting in the fourth quarter.
13. Sugary Drinks Tied To Millions Of Diabetes, Heart Disease Cases, Study Says – UPI Health
A new study published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine indicates that sugar-sweetened beverage consumption accounts for about 2.2 million new cases of type 2 diabetes and 1.2 million new cases of heart disease worldwide annually.
Over time, regular intake results in weight gain, insulin resistance and a host of metabolic issues related to type 2 diabetes and heart disease – two leading causes of death globally, the researchers noted. In developing countries, the case counts are especially disconcerting, researchers found.
Republished with permission from TIPP Insights
