What the NWT’s premier got from meeting US ambassador Pete Hoekstra

US tariffs on India that hurt NWT diamond mines were a key subject as Premier RJ Simpson met with American ambassador Pete Hoekstra.

India is a global hub of diamond polishing. Diamonds mined in the NWT usually go through the country before onward sale in countries like the United States.

The US is currently applying a 50-percent tariff to many goods imported from India, half of which is a punitive tariff in opposition to India’s purchasing of Russian oil.

Last week, India said it had held “constructive” talks in Washington, DC aimed at lowering those tariffs to a rate below 25 percent.

In the meantime, many diamonds mined in the NWT are ultimately subject to those tariffs, affecting the industry as a whole and the already uncertain viability of northern mines.

Hoekstra arrived in the NWT on Sunday for a brief visit. Following his meeting with Simpson, he is spending Monday with Yellowknife’s mayor and Indigenous leaders.

Speaking with Cabin Radio after their meeting, Simpson said he had told Hoekstra the Indian tariffs are “really impacting our primary industry here.”

“He noted that India will continue to have a tariff as long as they are buying Russian oil. We talked about other ways to get around that, like diamond polishing within Canada, diamond polishing in the United States, things like that,” said Simpson. (Some attempts have begun to polish more diamonds in the NWT.)

“We did not get a commitment to have diamonds exempted from the the tariffs, but I honestly wasn’t expecting something like that. He’s not the person who can make those decisions.”

Hoekstra, on a tour of Canada in recent weeks, has been making headlines through sometimes-prickly exchanges in public meetings and at events along the way.

Simpson said exactly the same Hoekstra turned up in Yellowknife.

“It was what I expected based on comments that have been made publicly in the past,” the premier said.

The US ambassador declined to be interviewed by Cabin Radio. He is, however, expected to sit for an interview with the CBC on Monday afternoon.

Below, read an interview transcript in which Simpson summarizes the meeting from his perspective.

This interview was recorded on September 29, 2025. The transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Ollie Williams: We’ve heard a lot from the US ambassador in news reports over the past few weeks. We’ve also seen a lot of reaction from Canadians. You’ve had a chance to meet him. What was your impression of him?

RJ Simpson: His public persona – what he’s saying in the media, what he’s saying when he makes speeches – it’s the same persona that he brings into the meetings behind closed doors.

We had a dinner last night and he said the same things he’s been saying publicly about Canada’s attitude about trade, but he also had positive things to say about the relationship and the potential for our relationship, our potential to increase trade and things like that.

It was what I expected based on comments that have been made publicly in the past.

What was he interested in talking about with you?

When ambassadors come to the territory – and this isn’t the first ambassador who’s come here, I’ve hosted a number of them – their primary goal, I think, is to learn about the territory, learn about the people, learn about what we have to offer and how we might be able to work together.

A lot of the discussion was learning about the territory, the geography, the resources available, our governance system. We talked a lot about our co-management system and the role Indigenous governments play. He was very interested in how we could work together going forward. We did our best to educate him.

Were you able to make any headway on the issues you wanted to advance?

When ambassadors come, it’s not a trade negotiation. All we can do is we hear the message that the American government would like us to hear, and then we give information back to them.

We talked about the tariffs and the impacts of tariffs on the diamond mines, letting him know that most of the diamonds in the world go through India and then wind up in the United States, and that tariff is really impacting our primary industry here, which are the diamond mines.

He noted that India will continue to have a tariff as long as they are buying Russian oil. We talked about other ways to get around that, like diamond polishing within Canada, diamond polishing in the United States, things like that.

We did not get a commitment to have diamonds exempted from the the tariffs, but I honestly wasn’t expecting something like that. He’s not the person who can make those decisions.

Did you feel like you were able to make any progress in reflecting back to the ambassador how the US is currently perceived in the North and how some of these actions are being perceived? Is he any closer to understanding why Canadians have the reaction they have?

I think the ambassador is a bright guy and he understands why Canadians are having the reaction that they’re having. He feels a certain way about it and he expresses those feelings, but it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t understand our perspective and where we’re coming from.

Does that make it difficult to have a meaningful, productive conversation if you and he are oceans apart in how you see proceedings right now?

When there are issues where you’re oceans apart, you don’t necessarily put a lot of energy into bridging that divide if it’s not going to go anywhere. So what we talked about are things that we can find common ground on.

We talked about the resources in the territory and how the American government has actually made investments into some mining projects, how there are American companies making investments into mining companies. We talked about that path forward and shared priorities like the security of North America. But I didn’t try to change his mind on things he has clearly put a lot of thought into and has very strong positions.

It sounds like it was difficult to get anywhere that felt like much of a win for the Northwest Territories. Were there any areas in which you left the meeting feeling reassured?

These meetings, they’re there to build relationships, to understand each other. He understands more about the Northwest Territories now, and so I feel confident about that. I have a relationship with him now as well. So there are benefits like that to come out of this. He’s much more familiar with the situation we’re facing with diamonds. That’s the type of information that can be fed back. We both came away from the meeting, I think, feeling positive given the circumstances.

When you say “given the circumstances,” what do you mean?

I mean the United States is imposing tariffs on the world and it’s having a negative impact on us. That is their prerogative, that’s what they want to do, that’s what they’re going to do. And so it’s not good for us. It’s not good for our economy.

We’ve actually benefited much more when we work together with the United States, but that is the situation we are living in now, and Canada is realigning its trade relationship with the world, looking at expanding into different markets. We really need to become, as a country, a lot more self-sufficient in ways similar to the United States. They’re not as heavily dependent on imports or international trade as we are.

We really need to get to a point similar to that, where we are doing the extraction of the resources, the processing of the resources, and then the later manufacturing. We discussed that a little bit as well, and how the United States is doing those things, and how Canada has a desire to do these things as well.

I’ve said this publicly in the House and I said it to him as well: I give President Trump the credit for giving Canada the kick in the pants it needed to start building again and focus more on becoming self-sufficient and developing our resources so that we have a stronger and more resilient economy.

Is there anything that the NWT needs the United States for directly right now? You mentioned critical minerals to a degree. Beyond that, is there anything you need his government to be doing?

The relationship with the United States is really with the Government of Canada, and so in the North it’s a lot about security, defence. Those are the types of conversations I’m sure are happening at the federal level.

What we would like to see is an exemption on the tariffs on NWT diamonds. We’d like to see investment from American companies and potentially the American government into some of these projects to help benefit the people of the territory.

But we have enough resources in Canada that really we can do a lot on our own, and we don’t necessarily need to rely on other countries for everything,

What sort of dialogue are you in with the diamond mine operators in the NWT about the tariffs, particularly in India, which are significant?

There are a lot of conversations going on at the official level, and I know the Minister Cleveland especially is very much a part of that conversation. There’s a lot of discussion about the current state of the diamond mines, what needs to happen at the mines to ensure they have some have long-term sustainability, and how we can get there.

This has been a very intense and ongoing conversation for quite some time now.

Is there any prospect of your government doing more financially to assist the NWT diamond mines? You’ve already stepped in over the past 12 months.

Right now, we don’t have plans to inject much money into the diamond mines. I think they’re such large organizations and there’s a lot of money flowing in and out of those mines. We’re not in a position to support an organization of that size, right?

If the GNWT support is what’s going to make the difference between a diamond mine surviving or failing, it’s probably too late at that point.

I mean, you did commit something like $15 million of incentives earlier this year, where it felt like that was what the GNWT was trying to do.

We did. We were at a point where it was clear that there were all of these exceptional impacts, and we see it across the country. Provinces and territories are doing their best to support their industries, but the government can’t be supporting the private industry to the extent that that’s the only thing keeping it alive.

That being said, you know, we’re always open to working with the mines and so happy to have conversations going forward.

Anything else you would like to let people know about the meeting you had with the US ambassador?

Beyond being neighbours, Canada and the United States in a lot of ways are really family. If you look at the Indigenous population of the territory, the Indigenous people in the territories have relatives all the way up to Alaska and all the way down to the southern part of the United States. And when it comes to the non-Indigenous population, the same ports that launch boats to the United States launch boats to Canada, and so there’s a lot of family connections.

Whatever issues we’re facing now, we’re going to get over, we’re going to get past it. There will be a new relationship. It’s going to look different than our previous relationship, but I’m confident that we’ll get to a better place, and so I tried to impart that with him.

Where do you hope that relationship gets to?

Canada needs to be more independent, more self-sufficient, take advantage of our own resources, but we’re always going to have a strong relationship with the United States. There’s no two ways about it. We are so close. We have such a big border. There’s so many established relationships, business relationships, familial relationships already that we’re always going to have a strong relationship and a strong trade relationship.

Going forward, we want to be able to expand our trade to other markets around the world, but we’re never going to get away from having a strong relationship with the United States. So what we need is some certainty and some clarity. That would mean some certainty around the tariffs – whether or not they’re staying, whether they’re going – and we need certainty around the new free trade agreement.