As the ambassador rose to address a roomful of suits, he held a plastic shot glass of spirit.
“To U.S.-Canadian friendship, partnership and success,” said Pete Hoekstra, Washington’s ambassador to Canada, bringing the cup to his mouth. It was before 10 a.m. on Monday morning – part of a new tradition, he said, of raising a glass at forums like this one.
It’s unclear exactly what the spirit was. He called it “whisky,” or “whiskey:” the Canadian or American versions, respectively. At a previous event in Regina, Hoekstra and other conference-goers drank bourbon, the American corn spirit aged in oak. Bourbon is a difficult spirit to find in Canada due to widespread trade-war boycotts – one of several responses to U.S. tariffs and threats of annexation.
“This relationship is so critical, we need to grow it, we need to stabilize it, and the future will be very, very bright for all of us,” he said as part of his toast, ending an extended fireside chat at the Pacific Northwest Economic Forum in Edmonton.
During the conversation, he returned several times to the potential, untapped power of the Canada-U.S. partnership. Space, AI, nuclear energy – all of them emerging industries where both countries could partner, should they want to, sometime in the future, he said.
Though today, negotiations over the two countries’ foundational free trade agreement trudge on. Canada is in a different spot from the Mexicans, who share the trilateral deal. Mexico and the U.S. are on their third round of “in-depth” talks, said Hoekstra, and they’re “knocking down issues.”
The Three Amigos are negotiating because the United States alone opted not to renew the deal.
July 1 marked a deadline for officials in all three countries to say whether they wanted to renew the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) for a 16-year period. The U.S. chose not to renew it. An annual review process has kicked in for the next decade.
Canada-U.S. trade: Concessions mean little to Trump, czar says
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc has said that Canada intended to renew the deal. Mexican officials indicated the same. On Monday, Hoekstra said uncertainty surrounding Canada-U.S. negotiations has sent investment south of the border.
Canadians don’t think highly of U.S.: Hoekstra
“If you want to get to an agreement and some certainty,” he told the room that he believes a new perspective is imperative.
“I have a problem. And I think that Canadians don’t think very highly of the United States right now,” he continued. “It makes it harder for politicians to get to an agreement.”
He said people on both sides of the border need to talk a lot more about “how important this trade relationship is to national security, economic security, and personal security.”
Canadians don’t trust U.S. on trade
Polling suggests Canadians do not view the U.S. as a reliable trading partner. A recent poll found only 35 per cent of Canadians said the U.S. is a reliable partner, down from 83 per cent from a similar poll conducted in 2022.
Last week, Quebecers in the border town of Coaticook described “animosity” towards their U.S. neighbours. Some 200 people there have been laid off from their jobs at a local plant following U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on the wood product sector.
Canadian goods are not shielded from those tariffs like they are from the bulk of Trump’s taxes on autos. The president introduced new uncertainty and anger among Canadians in recent days by suggesting Canada should pay tariffs for spreading wildfire smoke.
On Monday, as more than 900 active wildfires tore through Canadian communities and forests, Ontario Premier Doug Ford pushed back.
“Rather than sit there and complain, why don’t we see some help from President Trump. Send up some water bombers, send up some wildland firefighters, but then again, they have thousands of fires going in the U.S. right now, but you don’t hear Canada ever complain,” Ford said at a news conference Monday.
With files from CTV News journalist Spencer Van Dyk
