Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland was appointed Canada’s foreign affairs minister on Tuesday as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shuffled his cabinet, putting a Russia critic on the front lines of working with the incoming Trump administration.

The change is part of a wider shuffle of Trudeau’s inner circle as he tries to position Canada for a new relationship with its largest trading partner and demote underperformers in his 14-month-old Liberal government.

The shuffle included the promotion of a Somali Canadian — who came to the country as a refugee — to immigration minister and the departure of two of Trudeau’s most experienced ministers.

The move came ahead of the Jan. 20 inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, a Republican, and shortly after Trudeau’s senior staff met with Trump’s transition team.

Freeland, an author and former reporter who has been a top performer in Trudeau’s cabinet, replaced Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion but also retained the Canada-U.S. relations portfolio, including the trade relationship. The United States is Canada’s largest trading partner.

The shuffle was the first major change Trudeau has made to the cabinet he appointed after leading his party to an election victory in October 2015.

Canada’s relationship with its neighbor to the south could be tested in coming years, with Trump promising to renegotiate the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, aimed at removing tariff barriers between Canada, Mexico and the United States.

The appointment of Freeland, who is of Ukrainian descent, to the foreign affairs portfolio could be thorny, as she has been a harsh critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom Trump has repeatedly praised.

Moscow banned Freeland in 2014 as part of retaliatory sanctions against Canadian officials.

Before running for election in the Canadian parliament, Freeland worked for Reuters, a unit of Thomson Reuters.

Immigration Minister John McCallum was named ambassador to China and was replaced by Ahmed Hussen, a Muslim who came to Canada as a teenage refugee from war-torn Somalia.

“The Canada-China relationship will be well served by such a strong presence from our government,” Trudeau said in a statement announcing the changes.

Among other moves, François-Philippe Champagne, parliamentary secretary to the finance minister, was named trade minister.