EXCLUSIVE: U.S. envoy insists Trump ‘did not take aim’ at Canada with tariff policies, rhetoric

Watch U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra’s full sit-down interview with Vassy Kapelos just days ahead of the July 1 CUSMA deadline.

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra insists U.S. President Donald Trump is not taking aim at Canada with his tariff policy and past comments about not needing anything from one of its closest allies.

“We put tariffs on every country in the world. We did not take aim at Canada,” Hoekstra said in an exclusive broadcast interview with CTV News chief political correspondent Vassy Kapelos.

“We took a policy that we were implementing on a global basis that we believed we had to put in place to keep America strong and prosperous.”

Last year, the U.S. imposed a 10 per cent global “reciprocal” tariff under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down this past February. The Trump administration has since imposed a global 10 per cent tariff on most imports under a different act, but most goods under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) are exempt.

The U.S., however, has continued to impose various tariffs — citing national security — that affect Canadian exports such as steel, aluminum, copper and lumber. Those tariffs were levied before the global “reciprocal” ones and followed numerous taunts from the president calling Canada the 51st state.

Trump has also continued to suggest the U.S. does not need Canada or its products.

In response, Prime Minister Mark Carney has publicly highlighted the federal government’s goal to diversify its trading partners, along with a push to implement a “Buy Canadian” policy that requires federal procurement—especially in defence and major infrastructure—to prioritize Canadian-made goods and workers.

In an address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January, Carney declared that the U.S.-led rules-based international order has suffered a permanent “rupture” and said “great powers” are using economic integration as “weapons.”

Pressed repeatedly by Kapelos on whether he should understand Canada’s position based on Trump’s rhetoric and tariff policy, Hoekstra said the U.S. would not respond that way.

“We would take a look at our business community, where we’re doing well. We wouldn’t go to our largest trading partner, and say there’s a rupture, and we’re actually going to be looking somewhere else,” Hoekstra said.

Pressed again on Trump’s rhetoric leading to Canada’s hesitance to further integrate with the U.S, Hoekstra pushed back, saying the president is “willing to do business with Canada.”

“There were only two countries that responded in a strongly negative way,” Hoekstra added. “The rest of the world, we’ve negotiated trade agreements. We’ve worked on frameworks, and those types of things. We did not take aim at Canada.”

More recently, Hoekstra has framed Trump’s remarks as a sign the U.S. is open to offers and has urged Canada to highlight its strengths in autos, energy, and resources.

Carney, back in May, argued that a “strong Canada will help make America great again” during a speech to business leaders in New York City.

When asked by Kapelos if making those comments has the potential to help improve relations between the two countries, Hoekstra said it does “if it’s consistent.”

CUSMA review deadline approaching July 1

The deadline to renew or review CUSMA is coming up on July 1. That’s when officials in all three countries must notify their counterparts whether they want to renew the trade pact for a 16-year period or agree to an annual review process.

Canada and Mexico have both already formally declared they want to seek a 16-year extension of CUSMA, but the U.S. position remains unclear with Trump.

Asked whether Trump has conveyed to him his current position on the trilateral trade deal, Hoekstra said he would leave it up to the president to “outline with clarity exactly when he’s ready and prepared to make an announcement.”

Pressed on a timeline for that, Hoekstra said it could be ahead of next week’s CUSMA deadline, or sometime in July, adding: “I don’t think it will go into August.”

Hoekstra also told Kapelos both countries are “not anywhere close to announcing any type of a framework or an interim agreement.”

Last October, Canada and the U.S. nearly agreed to a deal on sectoral tariffs, but an anti-tariff ad from Ontario derailed those plans.

On Thursday, the prime minister was asked to respond to Hoekstra’s latest comments to CTV News. He said Canada will not accept a “bad deal” with Trump.

“What I have seen with the president is that you’re not close to making a deal, and then you make a deal,” Carney said. “It doesn’t mean the deals are good deals, but it means being prepared, having done the work, knowing what you want.”

Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc is set to meet with his American and Mexican counterparts on July 1 for the first official trilateral meeting to jointly review CUSMA.

You can watch U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra’s exclusive interview on CTV Question Period Sunday at 11 a.m. ET.

With files from CTV News’ Spencer Van Dyk and Rachel Aiello