Hoekstra tells Canada ‘keep your nose out of American politics’ ahead of midterms

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra has warned Canadian politicians to “keep your nose out of American politics” in a podcast appearance ahead of the U.S. midterms.

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“We are closely watching Canadian activities because it appears that some of this, from our perspective, and the way that we view our elections, could be inferred to be election interference,” he said in an appearance on The Really Big Show, a Canadian news podcast.

Hoekstra pointed to the Ontario government’s anti-tariff television ad that aired last year, as well as comments from Canada’s Industry Minister, ⁠Melanie Joly, about retaliatory tariffs.

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“Keep your nose out of American politics,” he added, warning that “America will respond to it,” if the behaviour of Canadian politicians is deemed to be election interference.

Joly has previously been open about the fact that Canadian counter-tariffs were in part designed to “target states” and “put political pressure” on the Trump administration after 50 per cent tariffs were imposed on $28 billion worth of Canadian goods.

When asked about the breakdown in trade negotiations between Canada and the U.S., Hoekstra said: “We thought we had a deal in August … it’s the best deal that any country in the world has received.”

He added that U.S. negotiators thought they had the deal “ironed out,” until Prime Minister Mark Carney called his negotiating team back to Ottawa and suspended talks.

Carney said he made the decision because “last-minute changes in the U.S. proposed terms were unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal.”

Hoekstra’s warning comes as Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre made a trip to Detroit, Michigan, to pitch a tariff-free auto pact between Canada and the U.S.

Michigan has become a crucial battleground in the upcoming U.S. midterm elections and is currently considered a toss-up for the Senate race by The Cook Political Report. It’s one of the states hit hardest by the trade war between the two countries, due to its automakers ​relying on integrated cross-border supply chains.

Last week, Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers broke ranks with U.S. President Donald Trump by saying in a campaign ad that the trade war with Canada needs to end.

Meanwhile, Hoekstra isn’t the only U.S. politician who is accusing Canada of interference in America. Last month, President Donald Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro told Canadian lobbyists to “get the hell out of our country” and warned that “if you interfere in our elections in Maine and Michigan, you will pay even more dearly.”

Neither Navarro nor Hoekstra offered any evidence that Canadian lobbying or retaliatory tariffs amounted to election interference.

The Democrats need to gain four more seats to win back the Senate majority in the upcoming mid-term elections on Nov. 3.

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