Ambassador Pete Hoekstra is in the Maritime getting to know the people and businesses in the region. He talks about the current trade situation between the United States and Canada, the importance of preclearance at the border, and the status of trade negotiations.
00:03:14.540They've all, a whole bunch of countries and disappointingly, we haven't been able to get to that final point with Canada at this time.
00:03:21.040Well, let me ask you about that, because we haven't heard much from our federal government in the last little while.
00:03:25.060I think the last comment that was made on discussions is that there were some technical things that were being talked about, and that's really been about it.
00:03:32.800Is there anything you can tell us about where the state of negotiations lie?
00:03:36.840Well, you know, we opened the comment period for USMCA, or, you know, as we know it, KUSMA, as you know it, you know, American businesses have the opportunity now for the 90, 120 days to submit their comments in terms of how is it working, what are the problems, what are the issues, as we go through the negotiation process, which hopefully will be complete by July of 2026.
00:04:02.860It's a review process. So that's happening right now. So rather than coming up with a, you know, a major rewrite, it looks like we're going to slog through going through the technicalities, and we'll see what this agreement looks like between US and Canada next summer.
00:04:21.840So there's always a possibility it'll change, you know, or that we'll get to an agreement sooner than that. But other than that, that's the process that we will go through.
00:04:29.320You don't see any major announcement about some of these things like steel and aluminum and lumber perhaps before then?
00:04:36.920Oh, there may be. Okay, but in terms of a, you know, as a president would probably say one big, beautiful deal, an agreement. Right now, it looks like that's not on the table.
00:04:49.300Does your administration want to see a bigger KUSMA or USMCA more included in it? What do you think that will look like?
00:04:58.400Well, I mean, I think when after the president and the prime minister met, you know, for the first time and talked about the trade, you know, trade opportunities and those types of things in the Oval Office and then spent an hour, hour and a half together in the lunch.
00:05:13.200You know, there was significant talk about getting to a big deal that would, you know, cover all the products covered under USMCA, but also energy, you know, autos, steel, aluminum, you know,
00:05:28.160and you go right through the list. All the things that we have strong ecosystems with today, you know, as a partnership today, and as well as, you know, covering some of the new opportunity areas, critical minerals, artificial intelligence, data, digital, all of those kinds of things potentially could have been in that kind of a deal.
00:05:47.620Well, let me ask you about critical minerals. What would your administration like to see the relationship be between the US and Canada on critical minerals?
00:05:56.520Do you see the US buying more from Canada? Do you want more involvement? You've signed a deal with Ukraine. Is that something that is a model for more deals?
00:06:07.620I mean, we're critical. They're called critical minerals for a reason. They're critical. We need them. We need access to them. I think both Canada and the US recognize we're not going to get them from China.
00:06:20.100So the US is, you know, we're scouring the globe as to where we can get them. I think we'd love to have an agreement with Canada. We were already invested, I think, close to $100 million with various Canadian companies to do mining operations.
00:06:34.740We've invested through our Department of Defense to, you know, to address the economic uncertainties and the high risks that come with some of these projects.
00:06:45.620And so we're supporting Canadian industry to develop. So obviously, we see Canada as a real strong potential to be a partner in critical minerals.
00:06:55.960You're from Michigan. Yep. The auto PAC, you know it very well.
00:06:58.820Is that a framework, perhaps, critical minerals with the supply chain like that?
00:07:07.520All of those are possibilities. We just got, you know, our folks have spent a tremendous amount of time talking with the Canadians.
00:07:15.120We haven't reached that framework, but, you know, hopefully they will go through that, you know, through all of those issues.
00:07:20.340And they'll go through it one way or another. I mean, we got to like a seven or eight page deal framework with the UK that outlines a lot of the, you know, the top line goals and objectives.
00:07:31.900And now, you know, a bunch of people are working through and implementing the details of that.
00:07:36.360It looks like we're starting the other way. We're taking a massive existing agreement.
00:07:41.440We're going through the process to review that and then we'll see what changes come out of it.
00:07:45.780So there's a whole bunch of ways to skin this cat. All right. Ambassador, thank you for your time.
00:07:50.400We appreciate you coming in tonight. Enjoy the rest of your visit to Maritimes.
00:07:53.640I understand you're off to New Brunswick. You'll be treated well there as well, of course.
00:07:56.620Yeah, we are. We're passionate about this relationship.
00:07:59.500It is a great relationship that we believe can get to be much bigger and much better.
00:08:04.200Thank you for your time. Thank you. We will take a break.
00:08:06.600That's Ambassador Pete Hoekstra, and we'll be back with much more of your news after this.
00:08:11.340All right. So what I'm getting from this interview is that Mark Carney is dragging his feet
00:08:15.060and not doing what is required to make a deal with the United States.
00:08:19.180He promised us he'd get a deal with America. Instead, he got us crippling tariffs,
00:08:23.600and this is while our economy collapses. And don't get me started on crime and immigration.
00:08:28.980You'll have to watch my other videos to see how I feel about that.
00:08:31.800This is yet another reminder of why we need Polyev in office and why we need to send Carney back to
00:08:37.160Europe. The good news is there is a possibility of a no confidence vote, and I'll cover this at length
00:08:42.680in a video tomorrow. Just be patient and have a little bit of faith.
00:08:47.900Sooner rather than later, the Conservatives will be in control and Polyev will be in power.