Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faces the biggest test of his political career after Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, long one of his most powerful and loyal ministers, announced Monday that she was resigning from the Cabinet. It was a move that stunned the country and raised questions about how much longer the unpopular Trudeau can stay in his job. Freeland, who was also deputy prime minister, said that Trudeau had told her Friday that he no longer wanted her to serve as finance minister and that he offered her another role in the Cabinet. But she said in her resignation letter to the prime minister that the only "honest and viable path" was to leave the Cabinet. "For the past number of weeks, you and I have found ourselves at odds about the best path forward for Canada," Freeland said. Freeland and Trudeau disagreed about a two-month sales tax holiday and $250 Canadian ($175) checks to Canadians that were recently announced. Freeland said that Canada is dealing with US President-elect Donald Trump's threat to impose sweeping 25% tariffs and should eschew "costly political gimmicks" it can "ill afford".

"Our country is facing a grave challenge," Freeland said in the letter. "That means keeping our fiscal powder dry today, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff war." The resignation comes as Freeland, who chaired a Cabinet committee on US relations, was set to deliver the fall economic statement and likely announce border security measures designed to help Canada avoid Trump's tariffs. The US president-elect has threatened to impose a 25% tax on all products entering the US from Canada and Mexico unless they stem the numbers of migrants and drugs. Trudeau has said that he plans on leading the Liberal Party into the next election, but there are some party members who don't want him to run for a fourth term. It wasn't immediately clear what Freeland's resignation from the Cabinet means for Trudeau's immediate future.