With less than 24 hours left until the U.S. presidential election, Canada’s ambassador to the United States said Monday that he is not worried about the election or its outcome, whether it favors Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump. Ta. .
“I’m not staying up late at night because I feel like we’ve really, really laid the foundations for preparing for this election. To prepare,” Ambassador Kirsten Hillman said in an interview with CTV News. Hillman has served as Canada’s ambassador to the United States since 2020.
“I’m excited to see how everything goes, but I know I’m ready,” she said.
Hillman noted that, like any administration in the United States, there are opportunities and challenges for both candidates.
Those challenges include President Trump’s proposal to impose a 10% tariff on all imports from Canada to the United States.
“This is not good for Canada, but it’s also not good for the United States,” Hillman said. “We travel around this country speaking to Republicans in states, communities and cities who recognize that Canada is their biggest customer and who benefit tremendously from Canadian investment and job creation in their communities. So we have some groundwork in place to have a conversation with former President Trump if he ever gets into the White House again.”
Hillman said the administration is well aware of President Donald Trump’s first term.
“He’s a very straightforward person,” Hillman said. “You know, people often think, ‘Oh, he’s saying these specific things. Maybe he doesn’t mean it.'” Generally speaking. , he is.”
Hillman told CTV News that Canada needs to accept that President Trump intends to implement the policies he has laid out.
“He’s very keen on doing business with countries, and that’s a strength for us, because the United States doesn’t have a stronger bilateral relationship than the one we have,” she said.
Hillman said Canada has a lot to bring to a dialogue with former President Trump, pointing to the renegotiation of NAFTA during Trump’s first term as evidence of that.
“In the end, we got a very good deal and a deal that modernizes the foundation of our relationship.”
Hillman said the renegotiation has caused minimal disruption and has resulted in the largest trade in history between Canada and the United States in the years since it was signed.
Harris, meanwhile, is well known to the ambassador team since they previously worked together on space and AI policy, Hillman said.
“She’s very interested in technology,” she said. “So it’ll be interesting to figure out where she wants to go with that.”
Hillman said that while Harris’ environmental concerns have implications for Canada’s strength and energy diversity, it will be difficult to see how she will specifically influence the Canada-U.S. relationship if she is elected president. He said he did not yet know whether he would focus on that.
Their efforts demonstrate what Canada offers to the specific communities they visit, but the strategy also works to realize overall national goals and builds on what was learned during the NAFTA renegotiation. Hillman pointed out that
“The goal this time is to get around the United States, and that’s really about highlighting Canada’s value proposition in the Canada-U.S. relationship, emphasizing what we bring to the relationship, and delivering on that with confidence. be.”
