U.S. ambassador ’disappointed’ with anti-American sentiment in Canada

The U.S. ambassador to Canada is expressing frustration over the anti-American sentiment he sees in this country, including from politicians, after U.S. President Donald Trump hit most of the world with tariffs.

Asked what surprised him about Canada since starting his new role in April, Pete Hoekstra said Thursday that what’s most unexpected is the country’s feelings about the U.S.

I’m disappointed that I came to Canada — a Canada that it is very, very difficult to find Canadians who are passionate about the American-Canadian relationship, Hoekstra said at an event hosted by the Halifax Chamber of Commerce.

You ran a campaign where it was anti-American, elbows up, me too. You know, that was an anti-American campaign. That has continued. That’s disappointing.

Hokestra said Prime Minister Mark Carney’s remark in the House of Commons on Monday that Canada currently has the best deal with the U.S. worldwide right now has helped take the tone and tenor of the debate down.

But he said a cabinet minister describing what Hoekstra called a trade dispute as a war is not helping.

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Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne used the word war multiple times on Tuesday while talking about Canada’s response to help Canadian sectors still hard hit by Trump’s tariffs.

Steel and aluminum industries, for example, continue to struggle with 50 per cent tariffs on exports to the U.S.

We’ve been there during the war when it came to aluminum, we’ve been there during the war when it came to steel, Champagne told reporters including CBC News.

Obviously when someone turns its back, you have to find ways to strengthen the Canadian economy and look at new markets, look at new industries.

Hoekstra fired back saying using such language is a dangerous place to go.

Since his re-election Trump has repeatedly threatened annexing Canada, rhetoric that continued after Carney became prime minister.

The president has often said becoming the 51st state is how Canada can avoid facing tariffs on its goods.

Hoekstra previously said Trump’s words can be taken as a “term of endearment.”

‘Your relative position has improved’

The ambassador defended Trump’s tariff agenda by saying countries competing with Canada to sell products to the U.S. are facing higher rates.

Your relative position has improved, he said. And you, your cabinet describes this as a relationship that America has turned its back on.

If Canada was really in a trade war with the U.S., Hoekstra said, the country would know it.

Data from Statistics Canada this month shows Canadian exports to the U.S. dropped almost 16 per cent since Trump’s tariff announcements in April. Products imported from the U.S. are also down almost 11 per cent, according to that data.

Travel between the two countries has also plunged.

Hoekstra said Trump wouldn’t be speaking consistently with Carney like he is now about a range of issues if the two countries were in a trade war. Carney said on Monday he spoke to the U.S. president over the weekend about Ukraine and China.

A day after expressing that a bigger deal than the North American trade pact isn’t in the cards, Hoekstra now says he’s genuinely optimistic that we will get to the point where we have a trade deal.

‘It’s like hallelujah’

The prime minister recently dropped retaliatory tariffs on American goods that are compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). Carney said it was a move to match the U.S. and try to advance trade talks.

Hoekstra says those countermeasures should have never been in place and is thrilled they’re gone.

It’s number one. It’s like hallelujah, he said. I mean you guys were tariffing product that fell under the USMCA, CUSMA.

He said the move helps kick off the review of CUSMA on a much better foot, but warns those counter-tariffs and continued boycotts will still taint the feedback from Americans in upcoming public consultations.

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This week the U.S. officially kicked off the mandatory review process to evaluate how CUSMA has been working over the past five years.

Hoekstra said there will be a whole lot of comments coming in from American businesses, and they are not going to be positive.

He described the review as a long, grinding process that he’d be surprised to see wrapped up by July 2026.

This article is republished from RCI.