The president-elect’s threat to impose major tariffs on Canadian goods and other pointed comments have tapped into a treacherous moment in domestic politics.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada and his government were in serious trouble well before Donald J. Trump was re-elected in November.
After nine years in government, a housing and cost-of-living crisis, worries about immigration and a growing divide on culture issues, Mr. Trudeau, once the optimistic face of the liberal order, is on thinning ice.
Opinion polls show that, in national elections that must take place by the fall under Canadian electoral rules, Mr. Trudeau is unlikely to win a fourth term as prime minister.
Mr. Trump has tapped into this brewing trouble, even before taking office.
He has threatened to slap tariffs on Canadian goods, sending the country into panic mode. He has trolled Mr. Trudeau as the “governor” of the “Great state of Canada,” putting his disdain on public display and triggering debates about how or whether Mr. Trudeau should respond.
And on Monday, Mr. Trump offered gleeful, acerbic commentary on the bombshell resignation of a top Canadian minister he had long disliked, showing that he is happy to mine this fraught moment in Canadian politics.
For Mr. Trump, this could all amount to poking some fun while pushing for a serious agenda of tariffs and border control; for many Canadians, this is a near-existential moment.