GATINEAU, Que. — The White House does not see itself as being in a trade war with Canada, U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra said, adding that Canada should stay aligned with the Americans for space industry opportunities in the coming decades despite new tariffs.
On Aug. 22, the U.S. announced it would impose 50% tariffs on $20 billion US of Canadian goods, none of which affect the space sector. Prime Minister Mark Carney suspended negotiations with the U.S. that day, saying the Americans present had proposed new terms “that were uneconomic, unfair, and undermined the net benefits to Canada.”
America, like Canada, has many opinions within its communities and within the space community — and it should be noted that other panels at SpaceBound have continued to stress international collaboration in this environment. But the White House has not agreed with Canada’s announced countertariffs on $28 billion of goods, which Hoekstra spoke about at length.
“From our perspective, No. 1, we’re not in a trade war. We’re negotiating some tariffs, okay. From our perspective, we haven’t ruptured. We don’t view the relationship as ruptured, and I know that the Canadians look at it differently,” Hoekstra said (Oct. 20) at Space Canada’s SpaceBound conference for industry.
“Canada had the best deal in the world,” Hoekstra added. “I don’t know whether that’s still in effect, but you still have 80%, 85% of the products going across the border tariff-free. It’s not a bad place to be.”
Collaboration on the space side has continued, both in industry and in human spaceflight — and Hoekstra paid tribute to that. Towards the beginning of his appearance, Hoekstra noted that two Canadian astronauts have launched into space this year on American rockets. In general, he added, the U.S. has a “huge” vision for space encompassing environmental aspects, flying to the moon, deep-space exploration, and transforming fundamental research into business opportunities.
He emphasized that space has worth for both sides of the border. “Many of the companies here have benefited from that relationship and the new industries, the technology, the materials, all of those things that have flowed from this collaboration and being in space, solving problems.”
Defending the north
Defence is now a global priority for numerous countries, including Canada, which has put a surge of new spending into it (including as it relates to space). Hoekstra framed Canadian sovereign-space activities in this domain as part of why the White House has been interested in Greenland in recent months.
Hoekstra said Canada and the U.S. have a “great relationship” on NORAD and a “pretty good relationship on NATO,” although the U.S. would have liked Canada to reach the 2% the Americans wanted sooner than it did this past year. Hoekstra would like that collaboration to continue, but in the meantime, he said, the White House is turning to Greenland.
The White House, after discussing options to acquire Greenland in the last 18 months, signed a security agreement with Denmark last month, and in concert with that agreement announced plans to open two new military bases in Greenland.
More military presence in Greenland, Hoekstra said, answers for the U.S. the question of “how do we build out, and have access to the physical and geographic spaces that we would need from defence? We’ve got to protect ourselves from the north, all right. And if we can’t do it with Canada, like we’ve done it for the last 50 [or] 60 years with NORAD and those types of things … we’re waiting to see exactly where Canada wants to go on this. It’s not okay. We’d love to do it with Canada. It would be very, very helpful, but at the same time, and I’ve said this for the last year and a half, we are not standing still.”
Hoekstra said the White House is also not clear on whether Canada is interested in contributing to Golden Dome, a project that he said is crucial for “protecting us from the north.” If Canada does not contribute, he said, “we’ve got some geographic decisions that we need to make.” But Hoekstra added that the pact is “not ideal” due to the geographic gap between Alaska and Greenland.
Meanwhile, Hoekstra said, the White House is watching closely as Canada seeks to deepen its ties with the European Space Agency, which Hoekstra framed as Canada saying, “We’re not gonna rely on SpaceX … or actually you’re closing the market to SpaceX.”
He was not clear on the meaning of that. The Globe and Mail noted Prime Minister Mark Carney recently told the New York Times that Canada is looking to “diversify away from” SpaceX’s Starlink. In regard to Europe, Hoekstra may have been alluding to Europeans recently making procurement decisions intended to prioritize sovereign satellites over foreign ones, such as considering approval of a planned merger of space giants Leonardo, Airbus and Thales that could form a SpaceX rival, nicknamed Project Bromo.
“You’ve made it a conscious decision that you’ve said we’re gonna move away from SpaceX, it’s kind of like, ‘Okay, great.’ That’s helpful for us as a government,” Hoekstra said. “It’s also very, very helpful for a lot, right? Just to say okay, that Canada’s not going to be a partner with us, and you know it’s kind of like ‘Wow, Canada is really saying, you know, for all the investment, all the innovation, all the excellence that is being driven by [SpaceX CEO] Elon [Musk], we don’t want to be a part of it.’ I think Elon will probably find other people that he can do business with, and my guess is that he already is.”
Hoekstra said the White House is planning “in accordance with what a sovereign nation decides it’s going to do with its economic and national security future,” and that senior leadership “fundamentally believes that this partnership has been so successful, and will continue to do so.”
Hoekstra’s remarks on Canada seeking new markets
In recent months, Canada has been working to diversify its trade with other countries, which Hoekstra said is “not really a new idea,” although he warned that “some places in the world are more difficult to penetrate into than the United States; we may be one of the most open markets in the world.”
- On the European Union: “I spent three years living in the E.U., trying to help American businesses do business in the E.U. It’s kind of hard. It’s kind of hard, but you know, maybe Canada can crack the code, and it’ll become a booming new market for you. But you know, those are things for Canada to decide.”
- On China: “Canadians believe doing business with — or that China is a better partner than the United States. Okay, if you believe that as a business, get over there, man. Drive your business.”
Hoekstra reiterated that the economic relationship between Canada and the U.S. “has been phenomenal” for the last five or six decades, and warned: “We’re not the ones talking about taking it away and breaking it, okay, and exploring other options and other alternatives. That’s for Canada to do.”
He said the U.S. is looking to be an economic partner that would offer success in the next 10 to 20 years: “Not because we’re promising it to you, as this is the future state of where America is going to be, but because you have experienced it with us in so many different areas over the last 50, 60, 70 years that partnering with the United States has been good for both of us, and I think that’s the message to get out for you and for you to seriously consider as that idea is under attack here in Canada.”
Smiling, Hoekstra immediately added to the crowd, “My last controversial statement today.”