Tariff Fight Puts 22 House Seats in Play as Envoy's Remarks Draw Ottawa's Scrutiny

Pete Hoekstra, the US ambassador to Canada, told business leaders at a closed-door meeting that if several swing races including Maine and Michigan go to Democrats, relations could become harder for Canada because Donald Trump might try to pin the losses on it, CTV News reported Wednesday. The US embassy disputed that account, calling the remarks "grossly taken out of context."

Prime Minister Mark Carney, asked by reporters about the report, said only that it was "an interesting way of framing it." Carney has separately said there is "no merit" to Hoekstra's claims of Canadian interference in US elections and that he was disappointed the envoy treats the matter as his role.

Canada and the United States have been in a tariff fight for months. Ottawa has retaliated against what it calls illegal US tariffs, aiming at goods from states that depend heavily on trade with Canada. Carney said Canada "will pursue" a trade deal if one becomes possible, but that negotiators are "not in that position right now."

Hoekstra has drawn sustained criticism in Canada. A House of Commons petition signed by more than 225,000 Canadians sought his expulsion, arguing his statements breached diplomatic protocols including the ban on interfering in a host country's internal affairs. He has accused Canadian officials of interfering in US elections, citing politicians who criticized tariffs in American media and an anti-tariff advertisement from Ontario that aired on US television. "If some of it becomes election interference, America will respond to it," he told a Canadian podcast.

Industry Minister Mélanie Joly, a target of those comments, said Canada "would never do that" and would "never accept that also being done to us in Canada." Roland Paris, who directs the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa, called such remarks an "extraordinary thing" for an ambassador to say about his host country and said they appeared to be an attempt to "manufacture a pretext for the Trump administration's own political difficulties."

At a Canadian American Business event last year, witnesses said Hoekstra delivered an expletive-laden tirade at Ontario's trade representative after the province ran anti-tariff ads in the US featuring Ronald Reagan. Ontario's premier called the episode "absolutely unacceptable" and "unbecoming of an ambassador." A House of Commons petition signed by more than 225,000 Canadians has demanded his expulsion, and former president Barack Obama told a Democratic rally in Detroit last week that he was mocking Trump's fixation on Canada, calling it a "historical adversary" while noting Canadians gave Americans "Martin Short … and maple syrup."