By The Canadian Press

In Ottawa, U.S. senators push trade, Canadian tourism to their states

May 23, 2025 | 3:20 PM

OTTAWA — Five United States senators were in Ottawa Friday to meet with Prime Minister Mark Carney and underscore the long-standing relationship between the two countries.

At a press conference at the U.S. embassy, Republican Kevin Cramer dismissed the current tensions between Canada and the U.S. as a temporary setback.

“There’s no way in my view that any temporary bump in the road can become a permanent bump in the road, and I think that was really clear today,” Cramer told reporters.

The delegation also included Democrats Jeanne Shaheen, Tim Kaine, Amy Klobuchar and Peter Welch.

They said they want Canadians to continue to visit the United States ahead of the summer season and stressed how important trade with Canada is for the states they represent.

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Klobuchar said the goal was to get the U.S.-Canada relationship “back on track” ahead of summer.

“I personally want Canadians to visit Minnesota as well as the rest of the beautiful states in our country,” she said.

Kaine, who represents Virginia, said Canada is his state’s number one trading partner, and many Canadians go to Virginia Beach on vacation. “It’s a very, very important relationship for us in Virginia,” he said.

The senators were also scheduled to meet with the ministers of foreign affairs, national defence and industry, as well as the Business Council of Canada.

The visit comes at a fractious time in Canada-U.S. relations, with the two countries embroiled in a trade war triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump has also threatened to make Canada the 51^st state.

The conflict has led to a wave of patriotism among Canadians, with many opting out of travel to the U.S. Carney was elected on a platform of promising to stand up to Trump, and to diversify Canada’s trade relations away from the United States.

Shaheen said the senators had a “good discussion talking about tariffs, talking about ways in which we are cooperating militarily and in the national security space, talking about the importance of the economic relationship that we have.”

She said they hope there will be continued “very positive discussions for ensuring that some of the cracks that have appeared in the relationship in recent months are healed and we move forward together.”

Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said in an interview with The Canadian Press that her meeting with the U.S. senators was “constructive.”

She said the conversation was about “the value of the economic partnership between Canada and the U.S.” and the impacts of tariffs on the countries’ economies.

“I think we can have allies in the U.S. to find ways to lift these tariffs and that’s definitely part of the conversation,” Joly said, adding that her priority was to highlight the need to support frontline workers amid the trade war.

She noted most of the senators who visited Ottawa were from border states.

“In that sense, what Canadians have been doing across the country for the last months has been having an impact in the U.S. and so that’s why it was important for us to be able to talk.”

-With files from Catherine Morrison

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 23, 2025.

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press