Canada's Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman is expected to leave her post in the new year.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador to the United States and the country’s chief negotiator on U.S. trade, plans to leave the job in the new year.
Her resignation would take effect before a 2026 review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, in which she was expected to play a key role. The free-trade agreement shields most Canadian exports from U.S. tariffs, but President Donald Trump has recently mused about letting the pact expire.
Ms. Hillman announced the move in a statement Tuesday evening. In an interview, she said the timing of her departure gives Prime Minister Mark Carney the ability to put “a team in place” as negotiations get under way on the review of the USMCA, sometimes known as CUSMA in Canada.
“More and more of the discussions are going to be part of the CUSMA review process,” she said. “So I think leaving at the moment when we have time to transition to a team to see it through is the right decision for Canada.”
Carney says outgoing Hillman is an 'exceptional public servant.'
The Canadian Press
She is expected to be replaced by Canadian financier Mark Wiseman, a close friend of the Prime Minister, a source told The Globe and Mail.
The Globe and Mail is not identifying the source because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter.
Ms. Hillman would not say who will replace her. But she said the next ambassador must quickly build bridges with Mr. Trump’s White House, senior cabinet secretaries and congressional leaders. The new ambassador must also reach out to Mr. Trump’s business and political allies outside Washington, she said.
Above all, she said, it’s important to listen to what Mr. Trump says.
“President Trump says what he means and he’s actually fairly consistent in a lot of things he says that are relevant to Canada,” she said. “It’s important to listen to that and understand it and give the best possible advice on how to find a path forward that works for Canada.”
U.S. and Canada discussed tariff-rate quota for steel before trade talks halted
In June, the Prime Minister had asked Ms. Hillman to stay on as ambassador to Washington and take on the role of chief negotiator in tense trade and security talks with the Trump administration. But Ms. Hillman had made it clear she did not want to stay in the job for very long.
Ms. Hillman has served in the Washington embassy since 2017, including the past six years as ambassador.
The Prime Minister said in a statement that this is an appropriate time for Ms. Hillman to leave.
“Ambassador Hillman’s intelligence, determined action and diplomacy have contributed immensely to the advancement of a new economic and security relationship with the United States – and prepared the foundations for Canada in the upcoming CUSMA review,” Mr. Carney said.
Those talks are likely to lead to a U.S. push to increase U.S. content in vehicles, new restrictions on Chinese companies in North America, as well as U.S. demands to dismantle Canada’s supply-management system.
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Ms. Hillman is a lawyer with deep experience in trade negotiations. She was a key member of the team that worked to revamp the North American free-trade agreement during Mr. Trump’s first term. It was replaced by USMCA. She also served as Canada’s chief negotiator for the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Ms. Hillman and Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc had been leading the Canadian team in talks with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Talks to reduce punishing tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum continued until the fall, when Ontario Premier Doug Ford ran anti-tariff ads in the United States that prompted Mr. Trump to abruptly cancel the talks.
In hearings on the future of the USMCA, business leaders call on Trump to drop tariffs
Formal trade talks between Ottawa and Washington remain frozen. When asked on Sunday whether he would resume trade talks with Canada, Mr. Trump responded, “we’ll see.”
Ms. Hillman seemed unsure whether a separate tariff deal on steel, aluminum, autos and softwood lumber is possible, since much of the focus is turning to USMCA talks.
But she said it is important to seize the moment if the opportunity arises to “achieve relief for affected sectors.”
Mr. Trump imposed a range of tariffs on Canada as part of a broader suite of tariffs levied on all U.S. trade partners.
These include a 50-per-cent tariff on steel and aluminum, a 25-per-cent tariff on Canadian-made automobiles (with some carveouts) and a 35-per-cent blanket tariff for Canadian products that aren’t compliant with USMCA’s rules of origin.
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Because of the USMCA carveout, most Canadian goods continue to enter the U.S. tariff-free. But key Canadian sectors, including steel, aluminum and automobiles are getting hammered by Mr. Trump’s sector-specific tariffs, known as Section 232 tariffs.
Former prime minister Justin Trudeau, who named Ms. Hillman to Washington, called her a “patriot” who worked “tirelessly to build up our economy and resolve multiple trade disputes.”
Brian Clow, a deputy chief of staff to Mr. Trudeau who handled Canada-U.S. relations, said Ms. Hillman also played a key role to work out a deferred prosecution deal for a senior Huawei executive. That deal led China to release Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig from prison.
He described Ms. Hillman as “the kindest, most thoughtful, and hardest working person you’ll ever meet.”
Other major bilateral files Ms. Hillman worked on included the renegotiation of the Safe Third Country Agreement in 2023, which stopped the flow of migrants from the U.S. to Canada via Roxham Road, and getting an electric vehicle tax credit implemented by then-president Joe Biden in 2022 rejigged to benefit auto content made in Canada and Mexico and not only the U.S.
In 2019, when former ambassador David MacNaughton resigned to become the head of Palantir’s Canadian operations, Ms. Hillman took over as acting ambassador before being appointed to the role full-time the following year.