The United States' ambassador to Canada said Monday that Alberta and Saskatchewan could make the "most compelling" case to meet the oil needs of the U.S.
"We want oil. We need oil," Pete Hoekstra said on Monday, noting the U.S. needs to find three to four million more barrels per day over the next decade and Alberta is already a good business partner for the U.S.
"We have found over the last couple of decades that one of the best places in the world to get oil from is Canada," he said at the annual summit of the Pacific Northwest Economic Region in Edmonton.
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When Prime Minister Mark Carney met with U.S. President Donald Trump last fall, there were two members of Trump's government that were more than eager to take up a preliminary offer from Carney to send more oil south of the border, Hoekstra said.
"The president had to advise them that crawling across the table and shaking Carney's hand ... was not necessarily the best negotiating strategy," said Hoekstra, adding the U.S. has other options.
Hoekstra touched on the ongoing trade uncertainty between Canada and the U.S., saying he expects an agreement to be reached at some point despite Trump declining to extend the existing Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement.
"They're continuing to have discussions, and we'll see where they end up," he said.
Hoekstra noted that the U.S. was further along in talks with Mexico and reiterated that he thinks the fact that many Canadians soured on the U.S. is making it harder to get a deal in place.
