Florida Republican Rep. Byron Donalds has said some unkind things about Canada. But when the Trump ally welcomed Canadian Ambassador Kirsten Hillman into his Capitol Hill office, it started out all smiles.
“I hear that you have just announced that you’re running for governor,” Hillman enthused. “Congratulations!”
Donalds — who has complained about Canada as a source of “unacceptable” drugs and immigration and trash-talked Canada’s 4 Nations hockey team — thanked Hillman and mentioned all the Canadians who winter in Florida.
With exclusive access to Hillman’s campaign to stave off U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods, CBC Radio’s The House asked Donalds what message he would give U.S. President Donald Trump about Canada.
“Right now we have a great relationship with Canada,” he said brightly. Whatever happens in the coming months and years, Donalds said, “I think the president understands that and he wants to continue having a great dialogue with our neighbours to the north.”
In a day of wall-to-wall meetings with U.S. lawmakers, the niceties aren’t the most important part, said Hillman.
“People to your face most often will just say very nice things. That’s why we have to get in there with the facts that matter to him,” said Hillman. The conversation became more pointed when CBC left the room, she explained later.
Hillman and her team of diplomats were in the midst of a blitz of some 75 meetings over two days to get Trump to back off his threat to impose economy-choking tariffs on almost all Canadian goods.
The House53:42Canada on Capitol Hill: Inside the fight against Trump’s tariffs
Host Catherine Cullen travels to Washington and gets an exclusive look into the corridors of power on Capitol Hill as Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., Kirsten Hillman, makes a last-ditch push to spare the Canadian economy from Donald Trump’s punishing tariffs. Top Republican and Democratic officials, Canadian consuls-general, Canada’s “fentanyl czar” and everyday Americans weigh on whether Canada’s message is resonating in the U.S. and what this whole aga means for the relationship between the two countries.
Many American politicians, Republican and Democrat, are willing to extol Canada’s virtues as a neighbour and trading partner, either in public or behind closed doors. But Hillman’s challenge, now crucial to Canada’s economy, is to make sure the message gets through to Trump.
“We have leaned as far into this as any partner and neighbour could do. So if this tariff threat materializes on Monday, it is not because Canada did not take this very seriously and do everything we can,” said Hillman.
Maple syrup, mittens for ‘Canada Day’ on Capitol Hill
Part of that effort played out on Tuesday in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol.
In a large, grey marble room with soaring ceilings, Hillman and her team have put up displays trumpeting Canada’s trade with the U.S. and reassuring statistics about the border. There’s free pizza from a restaurant with ties to Canada and on nearby tables, visitors can grab red and white mittens, Canadian water and maple syrup.
It’s “Canada Day” on the Hill, an annual event to celebrate and reinforce the Canada-U.S. relationship. In the Rayburn Foyer, Hillman said on Tuesday the room is set up like a job fair with Canadian immigration and border officials roaming around.
“As people are waiting to get their pizza and their Tim Hortons, they get to talk to all of our amazing Canadian professionals,” she said.
The goal at large for this event is to lure in politicians and staff with free food — like Hawaiian pizza, a Canadian invention — and Canada merchandise. But Hillman had a more specific plan in mind: handing out stickers that read “tariffs on allies hurt Americans.”
“My personal goal is to have every staffer have that sticker on their laptop … and [get] the tariffs off [Canada],” Hillman said.
Ryan Shelby, a former foreign service engineering officer for the U.S. Agency for International Development who attended the event, said Canadians are “our allies, our friends and it’s always good to see such amazing partnership.”
When asked what he would say to Canadians unnerved by Trump’s stance on Canada, Shelby said despite trials and tribulations, Canada and the United States are still family to each other.
“Family fights, and family makes up, and family gets back together, no matter what,” Shelby said.
Can Canada get its message through?
Not everyone is so easily won over, suggested Canada’s leading diplomat on the ground in Dallas, Consul General Susan Harper.
According to the Office of the Texas Governor, Canada was the state’s third-largest import source country in 2022 with $32.9B US in imports. Texas also exported $38.4B US to Canada the same year.
And yet, Harper said she’s struck when she goes into a room with Americans “and this isn’t even on their radar.”
Since Texas neighbours Mexico, border issues are “paramount” in the state, Harper said. She added the state sees fentanyl as a “North American issue that needs to be dealt with” and Canada agrees with that assessment.
“We want to work together. We think we are indicating that every way that we can, but it doesn’t mean everybody has that message right away,” Harper said.
She suggested it may take until Trump actually levels the tariffs — and Canada responds with countermeasures — for the gravity of the situation to sink in for Americans.
“It’s when [the tariff] hits that I think a lot more people are going to be aware why this is not in the U.S. interest. But it’s only when Americans say that to Americans that it will register,” Harper said.
It’s a different story for Colin Bird, Canada’s consul general in Detroit, who said his region “absolutely recognizes that [tariffs] would be a body blow to the auto sector in the United States, particularly the Great Lakes economy.”
In conversations he’s had with elected leaders, Bird said there is still hope that Trump is using tariffs as leverage to get concessions out of countries like Canada — but the reaction could change if the president follows through.
“I think if we are at a point where tariffs are actually being imposed, there will be more voices in the mix,” Bird said.
A Trump ally on how Canada can do more
At Canada Day on the Hill, California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa shares his advice for Canadians on dealing with Trump by borrowing a hockey term
“You’ve got to go where the puck is, and you’ve got to know where you want it to go,” Issa said.
In his view, Canada needs to play the long game and ask Trump what he wants for his other irritants like the trade deficit, which has also fuelled the tariff threats.
“Both sides are going to have to figure out what they don’t sell each other. On the other hand, if you want to keep down the barriers and have a free flow, let’s talk about the details it takes,” Issa said.
“I believe there’s a deal that’s fair,” Issa added. “And it’s not outcome driven, it’s process driven.”
He also points to Canada’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) as a trade irritant, suggesting it’s a tariff by another name.
Above all, Canada should keep coming back to the table with different proposals to see what the president thinks, Issa said.
“President Trump is never closed from further discussion. The important thing is to come back every time you get a no. Come back with something new. President Trump is a negotiator who never walks away from the table.”
“Ultimately, we’re close friends and allies, and I believe this is going to be resolved. Should it be sooner rather than later? Yes,” Issa said.
The new fentanyl czar
On Wednesday, Canada’s new fentanyl czar Kevin Brosseau was a star attraction at several of the meetings with U.S. lawmakers.
“Having somebody who’s first and foremost being the point person singularly focused on dealing with a fentanyl scourge in Canada and at the border is important for them,” said Brosseau in one of his first interviews since taking on the new role.
“It’s resonated really well. I’d say the reaction has been very positive.”
Statistics from U.S. officials suggest that Canada is responsible for just 0.2 per cent of the seized fentanyl that enters from the northern and southern border.
When asked if there was a risk of overstating the problem coming from Canada by appointing a “czar,” Brosseau said the point is to deal with a drug problem that is costing lives on both sides of the border.
“We all know there’s a problem. And frankly, this will help the U.S. in dealing with their problem and help Canada at the same time.”
Erin O’Gorman, president of the Canada Border Services Agency, and Mike Duheme, RCMP commissioner, were in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to discuss the latest results of Operation Blizzard, a cross-border project aimed at intercepting fentanyl and other drugs, as U.S. tariffs loomed over the Canadian economy.
Public Safety Minister David McGuinty said Thursday that Canada has acted on U.S. concerns about border security and fentanyl trafficking, even as Trump continues to insist economy-wide tariffs will go ahead.
“Any test that was put on this country, on Canada, in terms of showing progress and meeting standards for the border — I believe those have been met,” McGuinty said outside the White House.
Coming out of meeting with Brosseau and other Canadian officials, Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar said she was “really impressed” to hear from him and learn more about what Canada is doing to tackle the fentanyl issue.
When asked if the Canadian government is doing enough to meet Trump’s bar, Klobuchar said she can’t predict everything Trump is going to do, “but what I can say is that it’s enough to meet my bar.”
A red notebook, a questionable claim
Hillman’s meeting with Donalds came at the end of a long day. As she waited in the hallway outside his office, she pulled out her red notebook to make a point about how U.S. lawmakers feel about Canada.
“I’m not going to attribute this to anybody,” Hillman said of the words that came from “a Republican” during the briefing with the Senate’s homeland security committee.
“One of them said — hang on here,” Hillman said as she scanned the notebook. “‘There is no stronger ally or friend for the United States than Canada. All Americans understand that, everybody in this House understands that and we know that we would not be able to be the country we are without you as a neighbour.'”
In order to get Canada’s message across, Hillman isn’t relying only on warm words about friendship.
Sitting in her office after she spoke to Donalds, she gave the example of her conversation with the Florida congressman.
His district sells a lot of fruits and vegetables, Hillman said, the vast majority of which are purchased by Canadians.
“I said, ‘Those tariffs go on, we will put in counter-tariffs. You will not sell to us anymore. We will be buying from, I don’t know, Chile, Mexico, Peru? I don’t know where, but not your congressional district.'”
It’s good when people enthuse about Canada or say they have a cousin in Toronto, she noted, but it’s also important to get down to business.
“And business is: If you do this, this will hurt you. We won’t stand for it and we will fight back,” Hillman said. “This is not how friends treat friends.”
“We can help you or we can go forward in a place that will cause a lot of pain on both sides.”
Ministers and Canada’s fentanyl czar are in Washington, D.C., to highlight their country’s efforts to secure the border and stop drug smuggling. Their efforts come as U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed he will levy a 25 per cent tariff on Canada on March 4 until the flow of fentanyl ‘stops, or is seriously limited.
While Hillman said she’s confident in Canada’s efforts, she didn’t rule out tariffs hitting Canada next week or beyond.
“I don’t necessarily feel that we will get to where we need to go without it being painful,” she said. “It could be tough.”
With Trump repeatedly suggesting Canada should become the 51st state, does Hillman believe the Canada-U.S. relationship can go back to the status quo once Trump leaves office?
The current moment is going to change Canada, Hillman said, though not necessarily in a bad way. She hopes the country can orient itself in a way that makes it stronger, more competitive, more resilient and more independent.
But going back to the relationship before Trump is unlikely.
“I don’t think anything goes back,” Hillman said. “I think we just go forward.”