Hoekstra warns Canada to stay out of U.S. midterms

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra said Wednesday that American officials are monitoring Canadian politicians for signs of interference in the Nov. 3 U.S. midterm elections, and warned that Washington will respond if it sees any.

Hoekstra made the remarks in an interview on The Really Big Show podcast, which was posted last week, according to reports from The Canadian Press. He told Canadian politicians to keep their “nose out” of American politics.

“We are monitoring it. We are evaluating it. And if some of it becomes election interference, America will respond to it,” Hoekstra said, according to CTV News.

Industry Minister Mélanie Joly rejected the accusation on Wednesday. She said Canada would never engage in election interference and would “never accept that also being done to us in Canada,” The Canadian Press reported. Joly said she has met Democrats and Republicans in the United States and that her work there is about attracting investment.

Hoekstra pointed to Joly’s earlier remark that Canada would target tariffs at “politically sensitive states.” He said such comments “could be inferred to be election interference” in close races.

He also cited comments by former prime minister Justin Trudeau, who said at Brown University on Sept. 22 that the Trump administration was “doing things that are driving up prices for your consumers.”

Ontario’s tariff advertising came up as well. Hoekstra said the province’s ads last year, which used a recording of Ronald Reagan describing tariffs as a tax on consumers, were “interpreted as political interference” and that “it’s never happened in America before.” U.S. President Donald Trump ended trade talks with Canada in October 2025 after the ads aired during the World Series.

CTV News reported that U.S. officials also raised concerns in background briefings to Canadian reporters about Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, who campaigned in Florida in August for Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz during her primary.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has been in Michigan and the Detroit area arguing for a tariff-free auto sector between the two countries. According to CTV News, Hoekstra did not mention that trip by name. Poilievre has made similar points on CNN, saying the two countries’ grievances predate the latest trade dispute.

The timing matters for Canada. Michigan is both Hoekstra’s home state and one of the most closely watched battlegrounds, and tariffs on autos and parts are a live issue there. Our earlier report on a Michigan Senate hopeful who broke with Trump on Canada tariffs shows how directly the trade fight has entered that campaign. Democrats have opposed the trade war but have not committed to cancelling the tariffs outright, CTV News reported.

The ambassador is already a lightning rod in Canada. A petition seeking his expulsion passed 266,000 signatures in early September, as we reported when Gander defended inviting him to a 9/11 ceremony.

It is not clear what a U.S. “response” would involve. Hoekstra did not say, and the reports do not include statements from the Prime Minister’s Office or the Ontario government. Canadian trade talks have been stalled since Prime Minister Mark Carney ordered Canada’s negotiating team to halt them in August, accusing the U.S. of unreasonable demands.

The midterms will decide all seats in the U.S. House and one-third of the Senate. Republicans hold both chambers, but polls suggest Democrats could win control of both, according to The Canadian Press.

This is a developing story. Canada News Media has not heard the podcast interview in full and is relying on the two reports above.

If you find reporting like this useful, consider supporting Canada News Media, an independent Canadian newsroom with no corporate parent.

Via CTV News/CP24 and The Canadian Press via Barrie 360.