Hoekstra says U.S. is watching for Canadian interference in midterms

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra says American officials are “closely watching” Canadian politicians for signs of election interference ahead of next month’s U.S. midterm elections. In an interview posted last week on “The Really Big Show” podcast, Hoekstra said political ads run by Ontario last year could be interpreted as interference. The ad aired during the World Series and used clips of former U.S. president Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs and supporting free trade. U.S. President Donald Trump ended trade talks with Canada in October 2025 after the ad ran.

Hoekstra also pointed to recent comments by Industry Minister Mélanie Joly and former prime minister Justin Trudeau, suggesting those comments could amount to interference. He warned Canadian politicians to keep their “nose out” of American politics in the weeks before the midterms. Trudeau criticized the Trump administration during a discussion at Brown University on Sept. 22, saying that fighting with one of America’s “oldest and best allies” was driving up prices for U.S. consumers without necessarily making anything better for the country.

Hoekstra said Joly had spoken about targeting retaliatory tariffs at “politically sensitive states.” Joly pushed back Wednesday, telling reporters Canada would never interfere in U.S. elections and would “never accept that also being done to us in Canada.” She said she had visited the U.S. in recent months and met with Democrats and Republicans. Joly said her work in the U.S. was “fundamentally” about attracting investment, and that she expected to have good news about investments in Canada by different American companies. She said attracting investment would continue to be her strategy in the U.S. and around the world. Hoekstra said the United States would respond if any actions by Canadians ended up amounting to election interference. He declined an interview request from The Canadian Press.

Tensions between the United States and Canada have risen since Trump won the 2024 presidential election and began threatening to turn Canada into the 51st state. The threat and his attacks on Canada have become focal points of his stump speeches as he campaigns in battleground states ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms, which could end Republican control of Congress. At a rally Wednesday in Bullhead City, Ariz., Trump again criticized Canada, listing grievances over dairy trade and repeating his claim that Canada treats the U.S. “very badly.” He said Canada would end up as the 51st state because “that’s the only way it works,” adding: “We don’t need them, but they need us.”

Republicans face heavy pressure ahead of the midterms. Every seat in the House of Representatives and one-third of the seats in the U.S. Senate will be contested. Republicans currently hold majorities in both chambers, but polls suggest Democrats could win control of both.

Peter Navarro, one of Trump’s trade advisers, warned Ottawa last month against interfering in the midterms and criticized Canada’s past lobbying successes. Speaking at the American Growth Summit in Washington, he told the audience that Canadians in the room who intended to lobby the U.S. government should “get the hell out of our country.” Navarro said Canada had been successful at lobbying and seemed to think it could keep doing so, adding that if Canada interfered in elections in Maine or Michigan, it would “pay even more dearly.”

The Globe and Mail recently reported that Republican political operatives were in Alberta earlier this year to help the separatist campaign. It also reported that some Alberta separatists travelled to Washington to lobby for U.S. government support. In August, Prime Minister Mark Carney ordered Canada’s negotiating team to call off trade talks with the U.S., accusing the Americans of making unreasonable demands.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was in Detroit on Tuesday to make the case for tariff-free trade in the auto sector. Appearing on CNN, he continued to argue for the benefits of tariff-free trade. He said Canada and the U.S. had a 200-year relationship and there would always be grievances on both sides of the border. Canada had grievances with the U.S. even before the latest trade dispute, he said, but he would focus on what the two countries could do together.