OTTAWA, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on Monday announced her resignation in a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and called for pushing back against "America First" economic nationalism.

Freeland made the announcement in a post on her social media account after the prime minister informed her on Friday that he no longer wanted her to be his finance minster.

"Upon reflection, I have concluded that the only honest and viable path is for me to resign from the Cabinet," said Freeland, who also serves as the deputy prime minister.

"To be effective, a minister must speak on behalf of the Prime Minister and with his full confidence. In making your decision, you made clear that I no longer credibly enjoy that confidence and possess the authority that comes with it," she added.

Freeland, who was leading the cabinet committee on Canada-U.S. relations, admitted that for the past number of weeks, the prime minister and she "have found ourselves at odds" about the best path forward for the country.

She said Canada faces a grave challenge derived from the incoming administration in the United States which is pursuing a policy of aggressive economic nationalism, including a threat of 25 percent tariffs.

"We need to take that threat extremely serious," Freeland wrote, "that means keeping our fiscal powder dry today, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff war."

She called for pushing back against "America First" economic nationalism. Last week, Freeland said Canada is "in a global fight for capital," especially as Trump seeks to create "economic uncertainty outside the United States as a strategy to discourage investment anywhere other than the United States."

Freeland also called for "eschewing costly political gimmicks" which she did not specify, signalling that she didn't think some measures of the federal government are prudent.

Freeland was set to deliver the government's fall economic statement on Monday which is expected to respond to the pre-emptive threat of the potential tariffs. It's unclear if the fall economic statement will go ahead given Freeland's departure. Enditem

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