Bessent weighs in on Alberta separatism, calls Alberta ‘natural partner for the U.S.’

WASHINGTON — U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent commented Thursday on the separatist movement in Alberta — making him the highest-ranking member of the Trump administration to weigh in on the province’s politics.

While appearing on the right-wing TV station Real America’s Voice, Bessent claimed Canada won’t let Alberta build a pipeline to the Pacific.

“I think we should let them come down into the U.S., and Alberta’s a natural partner for the U.S.,” he said.

“They have great resources. The Albertans are very independent people,” Bessent said, adding there’s a “rumour that they may have a referendum on whether they want to stay in Canada or not.”

When asked if he knew something about it, Bessent said, “People are talking. People want sovereignty. They want what the U.S. has got.”

U.S. President Donald Trump cancelled trade talks with Canada in October because he was offended by an Ontario-sponsored ad featuring former president Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs. Members of the Trump administration claimed the ad amounted to Canada meddling in U.S. politics.

A Trump administration official, speaking on background, told The Canadian Press that Bessent was asked a question during an interview and answered. The official said it is not comparable to a Canadian province spending taxpayer dollars to run what they called “political attack ads” in a foreign country.

When asked about Bessent’s comments, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Ottawa is working with Alberta.

“We will do our own things and we will be able to develop our resources with Albertans, with Canadians,” Champagne said in Quebec City, where Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cabinet was gathered for meetings.

The minister said he’ll “remind” Bessent of that “next time I see him.”

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith believes the overwhelming majority of Albertans are not interested in becoming a U.S. state, said her spokesman Sam Blackett. The premier “supports a strong and sovereign Alberta within a united Canada,” he said in an emailed statement.

“Alberta wants to build new pipelines west, east, north, and south, and we will continue to work with our U.S. partners on building more pipeline capacity to U.S. markets,” he added.

Some organizers of the Alberta independence movement have claimed they had meetings with members of the Trump administration, although they have not disclosed any names. Their message has started to spread among MAGA influencers online, and among Republicans broadly.

Andy Ogles, a Republican congressman in Tennessee, told a BBC panel earlier this week that the people of Alberta would “prefer not to be a part of Canada and be a part of the United States because we are winning day in and day out.”

The Alberta independence movement is collecting signatures to trigger a referendum. The question that referendum would ask is whether Alberta should be independent from Canada — not whether it should join the United States.

Mitch Sylvestre, who is spearheading the petition for a referendum, said Friday he doesn’t think anyone in his movement wants to join the U.S.

“People want sovereignty, and that’s what people in the U.S. have, but we want sovereignty independent of the U.S,” he said.

Sylvestre said he thought Bessent was pointing out the obvious by calling Alberta and the U.S. “natural partners,” given the amount of trade they exchange.

Sylvestre said U.S. officials should be paying attention to what’s happening in Alberta — but he’d rather they didn’t comment on his push for independence.

“Alberta on its own will do very well,” he said. “A free-trade agreement with the U.S. would probably be good for both sides. Good for us, for sure.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 23, 2026.

— With files from Catherine Morrison in Quebec City and Jack Farrell in Edmonton