U.S. ambassador says Canada, U.S. goals on economy align – National
U.S. President Donald Trump’s goal of enhancing American power aligns with Prime Minister Mark Carney’s aim of making Canada’s economy the fastest-growing in the G7, Trump’s envoy to Canada said Friday.
“It’s going to continue to be a very strong and friendly relationship,” Ambassador Pete Hoekstra told The Canadian Press in an interview Friday, adding the two leaders are in frequent contact.
“You’ve got two leaders that are invigorating and transforming their economies, to benefit the people of the U.S. and the people of Canada.”
Hoekstra insisted there is no “discrepancy” between his calls for win-win economic arrangements between Canada and the U.S. and Trump’s repeated claim that America doesn’t need Canadian imports and doesn’t want Canadian-made cars.
“There is absolutely no discrepancy between me and the president. The president clearly is the decision-maker,” he said.
Though he said the U.S. intends to continue imposing tariffs on imports from multiple countries, including Canada, he argued there’s room to resolve irritants in the economic relationship.
“The president is … saying tariffs are part of our new framework. That’s not a Canadian problem. That’s a global issue,” he said.
“The great thing is you’ve got the top leaders involved in the discussions, which means that both countries view this as being important, serious, and they want this to get resolved.”
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He said the fact that Trump and Carney have been engaging in private talks that haven’t been leaked to the media indicate a mutual focus on making progress. He also insisted the talks aren’t happening in secret, although neither side has released readouts reporting on the content of the meetings.
“I don’t think the president or the prime minister are going to put out a statement every time that, ‘Oh, I texted the president last night, and he responded,’ or you know, ‘We had a five-minute call,’” he said.
“Everybody knows that right now, tariffs, economic growth and these types of things are the top of the agenda. That for the prime minister being the No. 1 growing economy in the G7 is one of his goals and objectives, and knowing that our President Donald Trump is doing everything that he can he can to ignite the U.S. economy.
“Why is anybody surprised that there may be different levels of communications going on to make that happen?”
Hoekstra admitted he isn’t informed every time Carney and Trump talk.
“I’d be interested in knowing exactly how often it’s happening. I don’t need to know,” he said.
“There (are) multiple channels between key decision-makers that are open and are being used, but I don’t need to know the quantity or the frequency. I just need to know that they exist, because that tells me that we can be making progress.”
Hoekstra did not offer a timeline for trade talks as discussions continue between Ottawa and Washington on tariffs and a possible early start to a review of the North American trade deal this fall.
The ambassador said Trump, Carney, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and various Canadian ministers are negotiating with advice from businesspeople on both sides of the border.
“They all understand that great negotiations, great discussions, end with a win-win,” he said.
Hoekstra said America wants strong borders, an end to fentanyl deaths and sustainable spending, and said Canada can partner with the U.S. on shared security and prosperity.
“Our objective is to stay the most powerful country in the world,” he said.
The ambassador said he’s had a warm reception in Canada, despite the tensions in the relationship that he had been reading about in the six months leading up to the start of his posting in April.
“I knew that there was a tension, a different tone and tenor than what we normally expected from our northern neighbours,” he said. “But you know, we’re going get past this.”
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