The United States has accused Canada of seeking to influence American politics ahead of the November 3 midterm elections, in a fact sheet issued by the US Embassy in Ottawa on Wednesday, ANI reported. The document, titled “Monitoring Canadian Activities in U.S. Politics,” cited statements by Canadian ministers and provincial leaders on retaliatory tariffs, political pressure on the Trump administration and engagements with US Democratic officials.

Source: ANI via Latestly

“The Canadian government brushes off concerns about potential interference in U.S. elections, even as its ministers and premiers openly describe plans to influence American politics in official documents and public appearances,” the embassy said in the fact sheet, according to ANI and DevDiscourse. The embassy added: “All Canadians should refrain from attempting to participate in or influence U.S. elections in any way. Americans decide America’s elections.”

Source: DevDiscourse (ANI)

What the fact sheet cites

The fact sheet pointed to Industry Minister Mélanie Joly’s meetings with US Democratic officials in Boston and Chicago in September. When she was asked about the implications for tariffs if Democrats won the midterms, she reportedly said, “That’s exactly why I’m meeting so many governors and potential presidential candidates,” according to a September 19 report by La Presse Canadienne cited in the document. It also cited Joly’s August 25 remarks acknowledging that Canada was targeting products to put political pressure on US states, and Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s calls for retaliatory tariffs on imports from “politically significant states to the current administration’s base of support,” Al Jazeera reported.

Source: Al Jazeera via Trinidad Tribune

The embassy also pointed to Ontario’s anti-tariff advertising campaign, launched last year, which featured clips of former President Ronald Reagan criticising tariffs in a 1987 radio address and prompted President Donald Trump to call off trade talks with Canada in October 2025. The fact sheet further named 11 individual Canadians who had been charged or sentenced for voting in US elections between 2012 and 2024 — but, Al Jazeera noted, it presented no evidence linking those citizens to a Canadian government effort.

Source: Al Jazeera via Trinidad Tribune

Ottawa rejects the charge

Canadian leaders rejected the allegation. Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada does not involve itself in American elections, and noted that it was the US that first initiated trade actions against Canada. “We’ve responded to those to protect Canadian jobs, to protect Canadian companies and develop our economy,” Carney said on Wednesday. Joly said Canada would never meddle in US elections and that her meetings with US politicians of both parties were about attracting investment and building Canada’s economy, Al Jazeera reported.

Source: Al Jazeera via Trinidad Tribune

The fact sheet came a week after US Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra said Washington was closely watching Canada for signs of interference ahead of the midterms, telling a podcast, according to The Canadian Press: “We’re monitoring it, we’re evaluating it and if some of it becomes election interference then America will respond to it.” The two countries have been locked in a trade war since the start of Trump’s second term in 2025, with Canada answering US tariffs with import taxes of its own. The November 3 midterms will decide which party controls Congress.

Source: Al Jazeera via Trinidad Tribune