Trump’s new ambassador to Canada: ‘I’m a listener’

WASHINGTON • Donald Trump’s new ambassador to Canada says she intends to represent the president’s agenda with a style that appears, at first glance, to be gentler than that of her unapologetically pugnacious boss.

Kelly Knight Craft spoke with CTV News about her plans for the job in her first Canadian interview airing Wednesday, the day after she was sworn in at the White House.

She demonstrated that less-combative approach when asked about the NFL protest controversy roiling the United States — Trump’s decision to call out players who kneel during the national anthem to protest police brutality.

“This is a country that promotes freedom of speech,” Knight Craft said, when asked about the issue. “I want to promote our constitution and the (administration’s) agenda. For me to put my opinion is not fair.

“Even though I may differ, I still respect the opinion of everyone else.”

Asked what she will bring to the job she said: “Being a great listener.”

A well-known sports fan, philanthropist and powerful GOP donor, Knight Craft told CTV about her friendships from different parts of her life: Drake and Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, to name two.

She said she became friends with the famous Canadian performer when he visited her home state of Kentucky for a basketball game. She also mentioned her friendship with McConnell, who also hails from her state.

McConnell has occasionally bickered with the president, whose anti-establishment, trade-skeptical, more combative stance has put him at odds with the party’s establishment wing.

The new ambassador, for her part, originally supported Marco Rubio in last year’s presidential primary.

She said she supports the president’s trade agenda — which involves renegotiating or cancelling NAFTA. When asked whether she agrees with his frequent threats to cancel the continental trade treaty, she repeated that she follows the president’s agenda. “We all have different tones,” she said, “but we are all seeking the same result and that’s what I’m focused on.”

She added that she knows several figures in Washington who hope for a so-called “win-win-win” on NAFTA, meaning a deal that benefits all three countries.

Someone who knows Knight Craft said it’s natural for her to have her own personality — while still working for her boss.

“She has a very powerful, but understated, genteel, way about her that’s nothing like a real-estate mogul who cut his teeth in the ’70s and ’80s in Manhattan,” said Maryscott Greenwood of the Canadian American Business Council.