U.S. ambassador to Canada hopeful two sides can ‘put together a great’ deal

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra joined us to talk about the anniversary, and Canada - U.S. relations.

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra says he is “very positive” about the potential of the economic and trade relationship between Canada and the United States, and he hopes the two countries can resolve “some of the irritants.”

On Wednesday, U.S. officials announced they’re opting against renewing the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement “in its current form,” and the trilateral trade deal will enter an annual review process.

“The United States will continue to engage with Mexico and Canada to address the agreement’s shortcomings and our trade deficits with these countries,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CTV News. “However, the agreement remains in force pending resolution of these issues or until the agreement’s termination.”

In an interview with CTV Your Morning Ottawa on Friday ahead of Independence Day celebrations in the capital, Ambassador Hoekstra said he thought Canada and the U.S. would have reached a deal by now.

“I never thought that it would take this long,” Hoekstra said.

“Hopefully, we can resolve some of the irritants and some of the other issues that are out there, and we can put together a great, great trade agreement. It would be good for the Canadian people, it would be good for the American people, and we can move forward.”

Hoekstra was asked if he thinks the trade issues between the two countries can be addressed.

“I’ve always been very, very optimistic that we can fix it,” Hoekstra said.

“There are two strong economies here. The U.S. has a very strong economy. We have lots of resources. The same is true about Canada. Everyone says we’re stronger together. I truly believe that we’ve demonstrated that with our defense and military co-operation, economic co-operation, and energy.”

July 1 was the deadline for officials in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico to say whether they wanted to renew the CUSMA agreement for a 16-year period. Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Canada’s preference was to renew the three-country trade deal.

‘We’ve got to get this fixed’

Hoekstra told CTV News chief political correspondent Vassy Kapelos last week that the U.S. and Canada were nowhere near a deal on CUSMA.

In a separate interview with Newstalk 580 CFRA Friday morning, Hoekstra said there is still “some work to do” to get an agreement.

“I thought we would have been done at this point. I’ve been here roughly 14 months, I never thought, after 14 months, we’d still be as far apart as we are on some of the trade stuff,” Hoekstra said.

“We’ve got to get this fixed, and, hopefully, that will happen sooner rather than later. I know that they’re going to continue working, you know, through July and August, even though Parliament is gone for what, three months.”

Hoekstra said the U.S. is trying to get a deal “on (U.S. President Donald) Trump time.”

“Which is really, really fast in the United States,” the ambassador said. “Hopefully, if you put (Prime Minister Mark) Carney time together with Trump Time, you know, we can get something done.”

With files from CTV News’ Spencer Van Dyk

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