Furious Canada Humiliates Trump’s Despicable Ambassador

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The MeidasTouch Podcast

Episode: Furious Canada Humiliates Trump’s Despicable Ambassador
Date: November 28, 2025
Hosts: Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas (MeidasTouch Network)

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Overview

In this episode, the Meiselas brothers dive into a diplomatic fiasco between the U.S. and Canada, focusing on the widely criticized behavior of Trump’s Ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra. The show explores the fallout from recent U.S. tariffs, the decisive response from Canadian leadership under Prime Minister Carney, and the broader collapse of U.S.-Canada relations under Trump’s administration. With a mix of irreverent commentary and substantial political analysis, the brothers break down how Canada is charting a new course, turning away from the U.S. and looking to global partnerships.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra’s Embarrassing Stint in Canada

Segment: [02:04–06:33]

• Pete Hoekstra’s Speech:
  Hoekstra draws ire during a Canadian manufacturing conference by dismissing Canadian frustration over being referred to as “the 51st state,” then condescendingly jokes about Canadians needing to “lighten up.”
• Quote:

  “You just don’t understand why we’re so mad about the 51st state... Yeah, you’re right, I don’t.”
  — Pete Hoekstra [03:02]

• He further complains about Canadian-funded political ads targeting Trump, suggesting these moves were unprecedented provocations.
• Quote:

  “You do not come into America and start running political ads, government-funded political ads, and expect there will be no consequences or reaction from the United States of America in the Trump administration.”
  — Pete Hoekstra [04:32]

• Canadian Perspective:
  Canadian commentators label Hoekstra as “the worst ambassador to Canada,” calling out his buffoonery and how his attitude reflects Trump's disregard for diplomatic norms.

2. Canada Boycotts U.S. Travel – Economic Fallout

Segment: [06:34–08:47]

• Canadian Travel Down:
  Reports reveal a sharp decline in Canadians visiting the U.S. over Thanksgiving due to strained relations.
  • Stat: Return trips by car from the U.S. to Canada down 30%; by air, down 24% (October data).
  • Quote:

    “Canadians say their top reason for avoiding the US is a resolve to stand up for Canada.”
    — CTV Reporter John Van of All Rao [08:31]

• Reasons for the Boycott:
  Widespread backlash against Trump-era tariffs and the perception of Americans as adversaries.
  • Quote:

    “Canadians now don't think of Americans as their friends... but as an adversary.”
    — Pete Hoekstra [07:41]

3. Prime Minister Carney’s Break with the U.S.

Segment: [09:02–12:43]

• Economic Severance:
  Prime Minister Carney delivers a stark speech declaring the end of the tight U.S.-Canada economic alliance, citing devastating impacts of U.S. tariffs.
  • Quote:

    “We know that this decades-long process of our ever closer economic relationship between Canada and the United States has ended... U.S. tariffs and the uncertainty they’re creating will cost Canadians around 1.8% of GDP. That’s about $50 billion lost... a rupture.”
    — PM Carney [09:02–10:29]

  • Carney pledges a dramatic pivot in Canada’s economic strategy, focusing on resilience and independence.

4. Canada’s Bold New Economic Plan

Segment: [12:03–13:04]

• $1 Trillion Investment:
  Carney announces Budget 2025, featuring a $1 trillion investment to supercharge Canadian industries, especially those hit by tariffs (steel, aluminum, auto, lumber).
  • Quote:

    “Unleash $1 trillion in total investments in Canada over the next five years... to give ourselves far more than any foreign nation can ever take away.”
    — PM Carney [12:03]

5. Forging Global Trade Ties

Segment: [12:43–15:43]

• Expanding Beyond the U.S.:
  Carney highlights new and ongoing trade deals with India, Thailand, and the Philippines, emphasizing speed and diversification.
  • Quote:

    “Every country wants to do a deal with Canada... Let’s focus, let’s take the opportunity, let’s diversify, let’s build out...”
    — PM Carney [13:14]

  • Stresses strategic investments to ensure Canadian industries remain robust, positioning Canada globally.

6. Targeted Tariff Policy – Not a U.S.-Directed Move

Segment: [15:28–17:37]

• Tariff Adjustments:
  Carney clarifies recent Canadian tariff changes are not retaliation against the U.S., but a global approach designed to aid domestic industry.
  • Quote:

    “It is a global approach. And... is creating some space for Canadian steel producers to fill it.”
    — PM Carney [15:43]

  • The timing of tariff adjustments is business-driven, not political pressure or retaliation.

    “January 31st is a judgment based on... the time in which it can take Canadian companies to ramp up and fulfill that demand.”
    — PM Carney [17:16]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Pete Hoekstra’s Tone-Deafness:

  “Just a joke, just a joke. Lighten up.”
  — Pete Hoekstra [04:14]

• Canadian Commentator’s Rebuttal:

  “This guy may be the worst ambassador to Canada. Like, quite literally ever. What a clown, what a buffoon.”
  — Canadian Political Commentator [05:52]

• Carney on Breaking the Historic Ties:

  “Our plan: move our economy from reliance to resilience and to give ourselves far more than any foreign nation can ever take away.”
  — PM Carney [10:25]

• Carney on Trade Diversification:

  “Let’s have a five to eight-year process? No. Let’s focus, let’s diversify, let’s build out.”
  — PM Carney [13:14]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |-----------------------------------------|-------------| | Hoekstra’s Conference Meltdown | 02:04–06:33 | | Canadian Travel Boycott & Stats | 06:34–08:47 | | Carney Declares End of U.S. Partnership | 09:02–10:29 | | Budget 2025 Investment Plan | 12:03–12:43 | | Canada’s Expanding Global Trade Deals | 12:43–15:28 | | Carney Explains New Tariff Policy | 15:28–17:37 |

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Episode Tone

• The episode blends biting satire, righteous indignation, and a spirit of resilience. The Meiselas brothers and featured Canadians use humor and sharp critique to underscore the serious diplomatic rift, championing Canada’s assertive stance and exposing the Trump ambassador’s undiplomatic approach.

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Conclusion

This episode gives listeners an incisive look at how Trump’s antagonistic foreign policy has not only soured America’s oldest alliance but catalyzed a Canadian pivot—toward economic independence and new global partnerships. Prime Minister Carney’s response is framed as both a necessary act of national self-preservation and the beginning of a new era for Canadian prosperity.

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Transcript

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[Canadian Political Commentator]

Canada is furious and it is getting underneath the skin of the Trump regime. Trump's United States Ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra. This dude is like crumbling before our eyes. He spoke at a manufacturing conference in Canada and he's like, all right, I'm just gonna get myself into trouble. You know, I don't understand why you all get mad in Canada about when we wanna conquer you and call you the 51st state. What do mad about? And then he starts to like yell at Canada and he points his finger and he starts wagging it at Canada. I don't know Hoekstra. I don't think Canada's gonna like this. Here, play this clip.

[Pete Hoekstra]

It will restart. The question is when.

[Canadian Government Official / Prime Minister Carney]

Neither of us know.

[Pete Hoekstra]

It seems like the, you know, I, I've got suggestions that I think can get it restarted, but it's, it's not going to be easy. Okay.

[Canadian Political Commentator]

Here.

[Pete Hoekstra]

I'll just get myself in trouble. I'll go somewhere else. But let me tell you, I mean, I go around the country and people, people will say, pete, you just don't understand why we're so mad about the 51st state. It's kind of like, yeah, you're right, I don't. Okay, well, then I read. You know, all I can say is to my Canadian friends is, you don't understand because I read the media and I listen to other discussions. You know, the president got mad about an ad. Well, I've been in this business for a while and I know people who've been in it longer than I have, and I asked them, okay, the, the ad that was run by the government of Canada. Oh, that's not the government of Canada. It's Ontario. It's kind of like, I'm sorry, we don't go through that, you know, slicing and dicing and, you know, it's kind of like no one can ever remember a, like circumstance where a foreign government came into the United States and, you know, they were talking about $54 million of ads, American dollars. So real money.

[Canadian Political Commentator]

The.

[Pete Hoekstra]

Just a joke, just a joke. Lighten up.

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That's the quote they're going to remember.

[Blinds.com Black Friday Sale Announcer]

Yeah, that's going to get me into trouble.

[Pete Hoekstra]

But, you know, targeting the President of the United States and his policies.

[Clothing Brand Announcer]

10.

[Pete Hoekstra]

Days before an election and a couple of weeks before a Supreme Court case would be heard in front of the Supreme Court. I'm sorry, that does not happen in the United States of America. You do not come into America and start running political ads, government funded political ads, and expect that there will be no conceit. It's the government coming in again in control and expect that there will be no consequences or reaction from the United States of America in the Trump administration. It has, as far as we can tell, it has never happened in America before. And if Canada wants to insert itself and create a new precedent that you're going to participate in our electoral politics through advertising targeting the President of the United States and his policies, I just, I would, I would, I would suggest that you seriously consider whether that is the best way to try to achieve your objectives in the United States of America.

[Canadian Political Commentator]

By the way, this guy may be the worst ambassador to Canada. Like, quite literally ever. What a clown, what a buffoon this guy is. And then he's like, and I don't even know why I think the Canadian people like China better than the United States. I wonder why, Hoekstra? Because of people like you and Trump and the whole regime here. Play this clip.

[Pete Hoekstra]

I don't find it in the media. Not sure I always see it in the political world, the public. I think China is now more viewed more favorably than America. It's kind of like, okay, all right.

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[Canadian Political Commentator]

And you want to know what's happening this Thanksgiving weekend? You want to know if people are traveling from Canada to the United States or if this boycott now is crippling the United States because of stupid actions of people like Hoekstra and Trump and this idiotic regime that has been so utterly disrespectful to Canada. Let's find out. What if Canadians are traveling to the United States. Hint they're not here. Play this clip.

[Amazon Music Podcast Ad Narrator]

Let's bring in CTV John Van of all Rao in Toronto with more on that.

[CTV Reporter John Van of All Rao]

Hi, John, Sandy here at Pearson in Toronto. It's a busy time for travel to the United States with U.S. thanksgiving on Thursday. But this year the travel numbers are likely to be down as many Canadians continue to choose to avoid going to the US and the state of Canada. US Relations being talked about this past weekend in Halifax at an international security conference, several American senators calling Trump's tariffs a mistake and noting how many Canadians are responding negatively to them on a personal level.

[Pete Hoekstra]

But the deeper problem is the cultural.

[Canadian Government Official / Prime Minister Carney]

Break, the idea that Canadians now don't.

[Pete Hoekstra]

Think of Americans as their friends and their neighbors, but as an adversary.

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One of the things that I think is very important about us being here, a bipartisan delegation, is to make it very clear to our Canadian friends that we're your friends and we're going to do everything we can to put things back to the wonderful relationship that we've always had with Canada.

[CTV Reporter John Van of All Rao]

And many travelers say they are feeling uncomfortable about going to the States this winter, with the latest numbers from StatsCan showing in October, return trips by car from the US were down 30% compared to a year ago, and by air they fell 24%. That trend expected to continue?

[Canadian Government Official / Prime Minister Carney]

Yeah, if we can stay clear, we certainly avoid it.

[Pete Hoekstra]

If there is a possibility of some.

[Canadian Government Official / Prime Minister Carney]

Resumption of normalcy, I think it's going to take a really long time.

[Amazon Music Podcast Ad Narrator]

I mean, some of the cuts have been pretty deep.

[CTV Reporter John Van of All Rao]

And the Canadians say their top reason for avoiding the US Is a resolve to stand up to for Canada. Still, some of those US Senators remain optimistic the damage to relations can eventually be fixed with one of them, an independent, calling the tariffs ridiculous. Sandy.

[Amazon Music Podcast Ad Narrator]

Okay, John, thank you.

[Canadian Political Commentator]

All right. Now let's hear from Prime Minister Carney's speech right before Thanksgiving. Once again reiterating the relationship with the United States is over. Here, play this clip.

[Canadian Government Official / Prime Minister Carney]

We know the world's changing. We know that this decades long process of our ever closer economic relationship between Canada and the United States has ended. And as a consequence of that, many of our strengths have become our vulnerabilities, particularly in those industries that are most tightly integrated with the United states. Headline last year, 75% of our exports went to the U.S. 90%. 90% of our lumber exports went to the U.S. 90%. 90% of our aluminum exports went to the United States. 90% of our steel exports went there. All bound for a single market. That has changed overall for the Canadian economy. We estimate that U.S. tariffs and the uncertainty that they're creating will cost Canadians around 1.8% of GDP. That's about $50 billion lost from our economy, or the equivalent of $1,300 for every Canadian. And this is happening fast. It's a rupture. Which means that our economic strategy needs to change dramatically and rapidly. And that change is in Budget 2025. Our plan to confront these challenges and emerge even stronger. To move our economy from reliance to resilience and to give ourselves far more than any foreign nation can ever take away.

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[Canadian Political Commentator]

And then right here we hear more from Prime Minister Carney right here, talking about how they're focusing on investing in Canada first and building out Canada.

[Canadian Government Official / Prime Minister Carney]

Play this clip the core of the strategy in Budget 2025 is to unleash $1 trillion in total investments in Canada over the course of the next five years. That alone will increase our GDP by over three and a half percent, or $3,500 for every Canadian worker, more than twice what's been taken from us. Now, to help get there, we must protect our workers and our industries who are most exposed to US Tariffs. That means in steel, aluminum, auto and lumber sectors. Help them bridge to the future.

[Canadian Political Commentator]

More from Prime Minister Carney right here, talking about the actual real trade deals, free trade deals that he's been doing in Asia and throughout the rest of the world. While Trump's like 18 trillion, 21 trillion, Canada's actually really doing deals here. Play this clip.

[Amazon Music Podcast Ad Narrator]

You've said that you want to get the best deal for Canada and that you're not rushing to any sort of deal. Do you get the sense that other countries regret the deals that they've made with President Trump?

[Canadian Government Official / Prime Minister Carney]

That's a question for them. It's look, I think this is what I'll say about other countries. Every country wants to do a deal with Canada or if they have a relationship with Canada, they want to deepen that relationship with Canada. And this is a real opportunity for us. Of course we want to further improve the existing trading relationship with the United States. We stand ready to re engage when they are. But at the same time, we're going to do a few other things. First and foremost, build this economy to be masters in our home and invest to make sure our strategic industries are there when we need them and then secondly, to develop those commercial relationships abroad. And I think you're seeing, given the scale of agreements that we're concluding and launching and the time frame and I'll make one last point and then pass to your colleague, if I may, which is you Know when we're announcing these free trade deals, for example, with India, the start of the intention for negotiations, or with Thailand or the Philippines as two recent, three recent examples, the intention is to conclude these in a year. Okay. This is not. Let's have a five to eight year long process. Let's focus, let's take the opportunity, let's diversify, let's build out and that that itself will start to seal. We have to conclude these obviously, but we want to have and final point on if I can. Sorry, I think I've already beyond my final point. But this is one of the many reasons why we want to make sure that we maintain the capacity in our steel industry, in our lumber industry, in our aluminum industry and other strategic industries and the workers as much as possible in their roles and their jobs. Because demand is coming, we're creating that demand. And that's a big part of what this announcement today is about.

[Canadian Political Commentator]

And more from Prime Minister Carney right here. Let us play it.

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You've announced tariffs today on the US for the first time or they'll affect the US for the first time since you, you pulled back retaliatory tariffs. How do you think this will affect the prospects of a trade deal with the US and are you worried about retaliation?

[Canadian Government Official / Prime Minister Carney]

So I think the first thing to say is that we, what we have done is to put in place adjustments to remissions and, and tariffs on certain steel derivative products, as you know. And so these are products that. Derivatives is a fancy name for products that are substantially comprised of steel. And it is a much more targeted level of that steel than for example, the United States has done with their steel derivatives, which is quite, quite broad application. US Looks to calculate the proportions in steel. Steel, that approach is global. It's global. It's not targeted at the U.S. okay, so that's the first thing that's very important. So it's a global approach which is creating some space for Canadian steel producers to fill it. First point, second point with respect to the changes we're making in tariffs. So for non free trade countries going from 50% to 20%, the sort of tariff rate quota. This is Bloomberg, so I can talk like that. Right. And, and for free trade countries going from 100 to 75%, the US is not included in that. So there's no change in the tariff for the US or for Mexico in that regard. So I think that answers the question.

[Amazon Music Podcast Ad Narrator]

On the, on ending the remission. I'm wondering why you chose January 31st and is this an attempt to add pressure to the US or is it an acknowledgement that you're not going to get a deal?

[Canadian Government Official / Prime Minister Carney]

I'm going to reinforce. I'm going to reinforce. It is a global approach. It is a global approach. And what it is January 31st is a judgment based on our working with companies that use these products and the time in which it can take Canadian companies to ramp up and fulfill that demand.

[Canadian Political Commentator]

Powerful, powerful stuff right there. Let me know what you all think and hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers. Thanks for watching. Thanks for watching.

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