U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada may not be “totally removed” under a future trade agreement, the U.S. ambassador says, but the two countries are on the path toward a stronger relationship.
Pete Hoekstra, who serves as Trump’s envoy to Canada, says there are opportunities to secure new economic and security partnerships on the foundation set by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to the White House last week.
“People have talked about a restart or a reset, and I kind of shy away from that,” he told Mercedes Stephenson in an interview that aired Sunday on The West Block.
“Yeah, we had a few rough months and those types of things. But we have strong economic ties, we have strong national security ties, we have personal ties. … There is so much to this foundation. We will be stronger in the future, and watching the prime minister and the president, they both want that same outcome.”
However, Hoekstra said Canada should expect some level of tariffs on its exports under a new trade deal, even a rate lower than the ones it currently faces.
He pointed to the new framework with the United Kingdom announced last week, which kept a 10 per cent baseline U.S. tariff while opening up the British marketplace to more American goods, as “an example of where we will be moving in the future.”
“I’m not sure they’ll be totally removed,” Hoekstra said, referring to Canadian tariffs.
“There’s some tough issues to negotiate and to talk about. But I think both leaders want to get this behind us and again, focus on creating a framework that will build and bring prosperity to both countries, and we’re not exactly sure exactly what the final agreement may look like.”
Since entering the White House in January, Trump has levied 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods, with a 10 per cent rate for energy exports, citing concerns about fentanyl and migrants entering the U.S. from the north. Canada’s auto, steel and aluminum sectors are also facing 25 per cent tariffs, and duties on softwood lumber have been increased.
Although exemptions have been made for goods exported under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement on free trade (CUSMA), the tariffs have taken a toll on Canada’s economy with the possibility of a recession looming.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.
The White House has previously said Canada will face a baseline tariff rate of 12 per cent in the event the fentanyl-related tariffs are removed.
Hoekstra said trade talks between Canada and the U.S. are being held with an eye toward updating CUSMA — which Trump has called “transitional” — when it comes up for renegotiation next year, but that other issues like fentanyl are also being addressed.
The ambassador appeared to confirm fentanyl was not the main reason for Trump’s tariffs, despite the president’s regular public complaints about the deadly opioid, including as recently as last month.
Less than one per cent of fentanyl seized at U.S. borders comes from Canada, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, which has found fentanyl seizures at the northern border are at their lowest level in two years.
“How do we get to the point where we are a fentanyl-free North American continent?” Hoekstra said when describing the conversations between Trump and Carney.
“Neither one of our leaders wants to lose one more Canadian or one more (American). We’d love to get to zero deaths per day. That’s the kind of objective.”
Asked if the Trump administration considers Canada a security threat, Hoekstra responded: “Define security threat.”
“You’re not a threat to America, but is it potentially a vulnerability?” he asked.
“That’s why there’s been so much focus on the Arctic. We need to outline a plan, and then we have to implement that plan to make sure that the Arctic and our northern borders are not a vulnerability. We can get this done.”
Carney has vowed to bolster Arctic security and get Canada’s defence spending to NATO’s target of two per cent of GDP by 2030. The federal government spent less than 1.4 per cent on defence last year.
Getting all NATO allies to the two per cent benchmark quickly has been a top priority for Trump dating back to his first term. More recently, he has called for the threshold to be raised higher, to five per cent of GDP, a level no NATO member — including the U.S. — has achieved.
Hoekstra suggested the administration is giving Carney’s government time to lay out his plan before passing judgment.
“The president has expressed items that are important to him, are important to the United States of America — let’s give the prime minister and the government the opportunity to respond,” he said.
Carney’s visit to Washington to meet with Trump was made just over a week after winning a minority Liberal government in the federal election.
Hoekstra said he’s hopeful an agreement between the two countries can be reached “relatively quickly” now that the Canadian election is in the rearview mirror.
He said the meetings behind closed doors, which he was a part of, were as respectful as they were in front of cameras in the Oval Office.
“They, I think, established a personal bond, which is important,” he said. “They talked about serious issues. They talked national security. They talked fentanyl. They talked the Arctic. They talked China. … And it was forward-looking.”
Most notably, Hoekstra said he believes the meetings quelled any threats toward Canada’s sovereignty, which the ambassador claimed were never truly serious and rather based on Trump’s “love” for Canada.
Trump repeated his belief that Canada should become America’s 51st state during the meeting with Carney, who repeatedly shot back that Canada is “not for sale.”
“We have moved beyond the 51st state, at least as far as I’m concerned,” Hoekstra said.
“The president can bring it up, but it’s clear, if that discussion ever comes up again, it’ll be between the president and the prime minister. And they will deal with it just like they dealt with it on Tuesday: they both expressed their views eloquently, forcefully, and (then said), ‘OK, let’s move on.’”
Ultimately, Hoekstra said, “I think the president wants a very positive relationship.”
