President-elect Trump announced Wednesday that he is appointing former Congressman Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) to serve as U.S. ambassador to Canada.
“I am very pleased to announce that former Ambassador and former Congressman Pete Hoekstra has been appointed U.S. Ambassador to Canada,” President Trump said in a statement. “Pete is well-respected in the great state of Michigan, a state where we have won big.”
Mr. Hoekstra served in the Michigan House of Representatives from 1993 to 2011 and is a former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
While in the House of Representatives, he was considered a Tea Party member and was previously recorded as questioning whether then-President Obama was born in the United States.
In 2017, he was confirmed by President Trump as U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands by a vote of the Senate. Two years later, Hoekstra emerged as one of the Trump administration's top candidates for director of national intelligence, but the position was ultimately won by Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas).
Earlier this year, the Republican National Committee formally confirmed Hoekstra as leader of the Michigan Republican Party.
President Trump praised Hoekstra in a statement Wednesday, saying with his help he would “return to putting America first” in his second term.
President Trump concluded, “During his first four years as U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands, he has done an outstanding job, and I am confident he will continue to represent our country well in this new role.'' .
