Canada not ‘constructive’ in efforts to secure U.S. trade deal, envoy says

Pete Hoekstra said the phrase 'elbows up,' is 'anti-American' and took issue with the phrase 'trade war' to describe the economic tension.

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra on Thursday said Canada’s response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and rhetoric has not been “constructive” toward securing a new trade and security deal with the U.S.

Speaking at a lunch event hosted by the Halifax Chamber of Commerce, Hoekstra said the phrase “elbows up,” used by Canadian politicians and the public to protest the U.S., is “anti-American” and took issue with the phrase “trade war” to describe the economic tension.

“It is very, very difficult to find Canadians who are passionate about the American-Canadian relationship,” he said. “You ran a campaign where it was anti-American, ‘elbows up,’ ‘me too.’ It was an anti-American campaign. That has continued. That’s disappointing.

“If you think that America is at war with Canada? No, we’re not at war. If the president thought he was at war with Canada, you’d see a whole different kind of relationship … than what you’re seeing now. You would not have the best tariff rate in the world.”

Hoekstra said it was only Canada that has treated the situation as a trade war.

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne on Wednesday said it’s “sad” that the U.S. “turned its back on Canada,” forcing it to look to new markets for international trade and investment.

Champagne also said “a lot of the costs” the country must carry in the upcoming federal budget are “directly related to the trade war that has been imposed on Canada.”

The U.S. ambassador said Thursday that such comments are “a bad place to go.”