Trump’s man in Canada stops by our podcast, insists we can still be friends

Pete Hoekstra is Donald Trump’s U.S. Ambassador to Canada, which means he spends a lot of time answering questions about the pressing issue of the day on this side of the border: tariffs.

The President's musings about Canada becoming the 51st state? He’s had to answer for those comments, too — but Hoekstra insists that’s all behind us.

“I've told people I don't talk about it, so I'm not really going to talk about it with you either,” the Ambassador said during a wide-ranging interview on our Closer Look podcast. “I ask myself the question: ‘If we're talking about the 51st state, am I improving the prosperity of Americans or Canadians? Am I improving the safety or security of either one of our countries?' The answer is no.”

That topic aside, Hoekstra was very candid about a lot of other issues — including the close bond between our two countries, his relationships with Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford, and why the Trump Administration is all-in on tariffs.

“We had to do the stuff on steel, aluminum, copper and some of these types of things because the President wants our country to be secure, and we need the capability to produce those kinds of products in the United States,” Hoekstra said.

“You continue to still have a better tariff deal than any of these countries in the world today,” he continued. “Is there uncertainty? Yes, but it would have been negligent on the part of American leadership to not address the problems that we faced. We had a long-term issue in terms of ensuring prosperity for the American people, a long-term issue with security and safety. And if the Canadians want to be mad about us addressing the internal issues that we had, they can do that.”

Hosted by Village Media’s Michael Friscolanti and Scott Sexsmith, and produced by Derek Turner, Closer Look is a new daily podcast that goes way beyond the headlines with insightful, in-depth conversations featuring our reporters and editors, leading experts, key stakeholders and big newsmakers.

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