"It has really sent a signal of alarm here that the ambassador may be coming a bit too close to what the general population deems acceptable."

"The message, I think, has been received at the other end."

"Other than the satisfaction of seeing results, superficially, I would not think that, looking at it the day after and the day after that ... I'm not sure that there would be much to gain."

"Maybe one feels good by expelling an ambassador but what happens the day after?"

Anne Leahy, former Canadian ambassador to Russia

 

"That career diplomat [alternative] would probably not have the access to key people in the Trump administration because they weren't appointed by President Trump."

"Given the damage that's been done, you do need to have someone who is an expert on U.S.-Canada relations, who's well-respected on both sides of the border, to take up that role."

"[And that message is] that Pete Hoekstra is not the right person for this job."

"At this point, it needs to be the Trump administration to withdraw him." 

Andrew Hale, fellow, Advancing American Freedom, Washington 

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra takes part in the PNWER (Pacific Northwest Economic Region) Annual Summit, in Edmonton Monday July 20, 2026. Photo by David Bloom /Postmedia

 

The American Ambassador to Canada under the Trump administration has been called out for his role in exacerbating to a degree the already-strained relations between the U.S. and Canada, over issues relating to the imposition of steep trade tariffs under the pretense of 'unfair trade practices' on the part of Canada, taking advantage of the United States, Canada's largest-by-far trade partner, and mutual-defense ally. A citizen-led list of signatures in support of having Ambassador Hoekstra removed from Canada has gained steam. A quarter-of-a-million Canadians have so far signed the petition.

 

Apart from the imposition of steep tariffs, President Donald Trump's oft-repeated jibes of Canada becoming the '51st state' have left Canadians with a feeling of deep resentment. Ambassador Hoekstra's penchant for making light of it, and his puzzlement over Canadians' growing hostility toward the White House he serves has failed to endear him to Canadians. Once the petition has been closed to accepting new signees in several months' time, it will  be presented to Parliament for consideration.

 

Canada's Green Party leader, Elizabeth May was quick to sponsor the petition, offering in her official role as a Member of Parliament, to table it. Ms. May knows the unlikelihood of the petition being passed with unanimity, much less the unpalatable likelihood of Prime Minister Carney agreeing to seek the Ambassador's expulsion. His own relationship with Donald J. Trump is rather on the spontaneously prickly side, and no action that he can take to further distance President Trump's good graces toward Canada would be a wise move.

 

Arguing that Washington should nonetheless recall Ambassador Hoekstra from Canada, and with little expectation that Canada would pursue the Ambassador's expulsion, Andrew Hale feels that sufficient damage has been done to the relationship of two nations coexisting with the longest border in the world as friends and cooperative partners economically and politically. Petition e-7531, drafted by Calgary resident Lelanne Walker, calls on Ottawa to declare the Ambassador persona non grata.

 

Once the petition is presented to Parliament ,a 45 day period within which he government must respond would take place. In Mr. Hoekstra's absence, should the situation develop to that end, the Embassy could be left in charge of a charge d'affaires; the embassy's deputy chief of mission who would be a career State Department officer. According to Mr. Hale, that could leave Ottawa minus an envoy with political access of a presidential appointee.

 

Former Canadian ambassador to Russia, Anne Leahey, who was herself in the position of being declared persona non grata in 1988, suggests allowing the petition to speak for itself; a public message sent to emphasize Canadians' displeasure with the blunt performance of a man purporting not to be a diplomat, but assigned to that role, nonetheless. 

 

Colin Robertson, on the other hand, as another former Canadian diplomat, believes that Mr. Hoekstra serves his purpose, whether or not he listens to Canadians to relay their views to the White House. Believing that an ambassador who can reflect the President's views, is an important conduit for both Canada and the United States.   

"It goes way beyond that [the aggressive advocacy by a U.S. ambassador]. It is Trumpian. We've never had an ambassador like Hoestra." 

"I think he probably ... can pick up the phone and get through too the chief of staff and cabinet officials."

"What I don't know is how much he's transmitting our message.  I don't see evidence of that."

"I think it's more important that we have him here so we know we have an accurate read whenever we need it on where the administration is coming from."

Colin Robertson, vice-president, Canadian Global Affairs Institute 

Pete Hoekstra is seen campaigning for U.S. President Donald Trump in November 2024. The U.S. ambassador's comments about Canada, including on the possibility of becoming the 51st state, have caused tens of thousands of Canadians to call for him to be expelled. (Rebecca Cook/Reuters)

The Most Controversial President in U.S. History's Ambassador to Canada

"He said, 'What do you want to do?" I said, 'I think I see myself as your ambassador to Canada'. He had kind of a quizzical look ... and he says 'I like that, I like that idea'."

"I'm not only Dutch, I'm Frisian, which they call the most stubborn and blunt group -- and the Dutch pride themselves on being blunt. [That] is pretty valuable as a diplomat ..."

"I don't think [Canadian officials] leave the meeting saying 'What was he trying to tell us? Do you think Trump is really serious about tariffs'?"

Pete Hoekstra, U.S. Ambassador to Canada

 

"For the first time, it appears that the American ambassador's audience in everything he says publicly is the president."

"He is very likely making his boss happy, while he makes the rest of us uneasy."

"He's not from central casting."

Flavio Volpe, president, Automotive Parts Manufacturing Association, Canada

 

"He was just a brilliant guy and a can-do guy who just wanted to get things done."

"He is an original thinker. He's not conventional at all in so far as policies or in terms of ideology."

"He thought outside the box, which I really admired." 

Steve Emerson, Investigative Project on Terrorism 

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra speaks before taking part in a discussion on Canada-U.S. relations with Colin Robertson, a fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, during the Global Business Forum in Banff, Alberta on Sept. 25, 2025. Photo by Brent Calver/Postmedia /Brent Calver/Postmedia

 

The man has been labelled 'contentious' and 'pugnacious'; he certainly speaks his mind in a manner that is unreflective of the position he holds as a senior diplomat, though he doesn't come from the professional diplomatic corps, but rather, like his boss, from the business world. And he is, if anything, a true-red Republican Trump loyalist. Although he has some family ties with Canada, of relatives living in the country, and some memories in his dim background of visiting Canada, he appears to know little-to-nothing about the Canadian spirit.

 

In the sense, that is, that he can fathom broad offense taken by Canadians when the  American president he represents and champions insults the country by suggesting it become the  51st state. A 'term of endearment' was his reading of the suggestion, baffled that any offence could be taken. Surely not; more likely taking his cue of making light of the assault on Canadian sovereignty as though to deliberately minimize the spurning reaction of  a people whose dignity as a nation has been  made light of.

 

He is said to be a genial man in person, and no doubt he is. So is President Donald J. Trump when he wants to be, which is to say when everything goes his way. The supreme confidence instilled by holding the position of the most politically powerful man in the world would doubtless make many people immune to criticism, but not Trump and not, Mr. Hoekstra, on Trump's behalf. Criticize Mr. Trump and you have the supreme audacity to find fault with the great United States of America. 

 

"Dear Canada: beware. Hoekstra deserves to be treated as a hostile guest", proclaimed the  website of Common Dreams. The ambassador, 72 years of age, was born in Groningen, a northern city in the Netherlands. His family brought him to the United States when he was three years old through emigration. He earned an MBA in Michigan and entered the business world to become vice-president of marketing at an office furniture manufacturer before he turned to the political arena and election in 1992 to the House of Representatives, as a conservative Republican.

 

He opposed abortion rights, same-sex marriage, gay adoption, gun control and federal employee paid parental leave; the very essence of Democratic liberal values.  He chaired the House of Representatives intelligence committee from 2004-2007. As think tank pundit, author and diplomat he seems the perfect representative in Canada to reflect the current administration. His continued warning of "radical Islam", and that schools in America were used "to indoctrinate our children with Marxist ideology" mark him as controversial but fairly accurate. Since 9/11 he has devoted "almost all of my time" to intelligence, stating the "greatest threat" to the U.S. is the rise of "radical Jihad, radical Islamists".

 

At his Senate confirmation hearing last year he stated "I recognize Canada's long-standing friendship, our deep economic ties and our strong military alliance", as he spoke of Mr. Trump's priorities as "freer, fairer trade". Canadians, along with much of the world might take issue with that last statement. Canada in particular with the imposition of 35 percent tariffs on goods not covered by the CUSMA agreement. The tariffs on aluminum, steel, copper and lumber are particularly onerous and resented. 

 

"You do not come into America and start running political ads -- government-funded political ads -- and expect that there will be no consequences or reaction", he sternly admonished the Province of Ontario's trade representative over a series of well-publicized media spots highlighting former President Ronald Reagan's statements rejecting tariffs as completely unnecessary, as a gentle chide to President Trump's triumph of shocking tariffs and incentives to Canada-based manufacturers to leave Canada and set up manufacturing in the U.S. to unburden themselves of the weight of tariffs.  

"Chaos in the Netherlands. There are cars being burned. There are politicians that are being burned."

"With the influx of the Islamic community ... there are no-go zones in the Netherlands. All right?"

"There are no-go zones in France ... There are no-go zones in Britain as well, but they are tearing the Dutch apart politically." 

Pete Hoekstra, Muslim Migration into Europe: Eurabia Come True? 2015 panel discussion 

Somali-born, Dutch-American writer of note, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, herself a former politician and a bellwether of the kind of furtive jihad practised by the Muslim Brotherhood, would agree with every word of each caution issuing from the mouth of this unusual ambassador whose ideas of diplomacy are rather unconventional. Canada may yet learn much from this frank man of experience whose provocative conservative values counter much of the touchy-feely progressive-liberal standards of its own current government.

  

Pete Hoekstra, then Michigan Republican Party chairman, speaks at a Donald Trump campaign rally in Freeland, Mich., May 1, 2024. Photo by Paul Sancya/AP, File

 

"He's got to walk a tightrope. If he tries to inject too much rationality into the discussion, he gets zapped by Trump."

"I'm not going out of my way to defend him, but I feel a bit of sympathy for the predicament he's in."

"I'm sure when he showed up in Ottawa he didn't think he'd become the most controversial U.S. ambassador in history."

David Haglund, international relations professor, Queen's University