John Catsimatidis lost four friends and a cousin on September 11, 2001. Twenty-five years later, the Red Apple Group chairman and CEO used an appearance on Fox Business’ “Mornings with FOX Business” to argue that the country has not done enough to prepare for the next attack — and that foreign adversaries are working to weaken President Donald Trump ahead of the November 3 midterm elections.
“The evil empire, whether it’s Russia, North Korea, China, Iran, the evil empire will do anything to make sure that they cripple Trump in the November 3rd election,” Catsimatidis told host Cheryl Casone.
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The billionaire businessman, whose holdings include the Gristedes supermarket chain and United Refining Co., said the president’s background in dealmaking makes him a particular target. “He’s not only a president, he is a businessman,” Catsimatidis said, pointing to recent U.S. engagements in Venezuela and Ukraine as evidence that Trump’s commercial instincts unsettle established powers.
Disappointment with Ottawa
Catsimatidis, who has Greek roots and a long history as a New York political donor, reserved some of his sharpest criticism for Canada’s prime minister.
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He described Mark Carney as someone he likes and considers smart, but said he was disappointed in the Canadian leader’s posture toward Washington. “I think he feels the same way, that they’re gonna be able to take a bigger advantage of the United States if Trump was crippled,” Catsimatidis said.
The comments land against a trade relationship that has deteriorated sharply since the U.S. imposed sweeping tariffs on Canadian goods. In a retaliatory move, Canada placed a 20% levy on selected American products including milk, steel and golf clubs. Carney, who took office in March 2025, has called the U.S. tariffs the biggest economic shock of his tenure, while senior Canadian officials have tied any additional relief to progress in the broader bilateral negotiation.
For American consumers, the standoff has meant higher sticker prices on Canadian lumber, aluminum and food imports, while U.S. manufacturers that sell north of the border have absorbed retaliatory duties. The dispute has also complicated the operation of the USMCA, the free-trade framework that replaced NAFTA during Trump’s first term.
A warning tied to September 11
Catsimatidis tied his geopolitical concerns to the anniversary he was commemorating. He said younger Americans have no personal memory of the 2001 attacks and argued that the country must remain vigilant.
“I believe that our country is under attack and that if we don’t keep our eyes open, there’ll be another 9/11,” he said. “New York is the target, Washington is the target, and we have to be extra careful.”
His warning came amid elevated tensions with Tehran. Earlier, Trump publicly advised Iran “not to get cute” following reports of movement at a secret nuclear site and a strike on a U.S. air base in Jordan. Separately, Anthropic said it had blocked activity tied to Iran-linked cases involving the attempted use of AI for biological weapons development, a reminder of how emerging technologies are expanding the threat surface that officials track.
Catsimatidis closed his remarks with an appeal tied to the midterms: “November 3, help save America, because we’re under attack in so many directions.”
Why the commentary matters
Catsimatidis is not a policy principal in Washington, but he is a useful barometer of how the moneyed, New York-centric wing of the Republican coalition is framing the election-year argument: that foreign adversaries, not domestic opponents, are the real obstacle to the president’s agenda, and that trade concessions to allies are a form of weakness.
That framing carries real stakes for markets. A prolonged U.S.-Canada tariff exchange keeps upward pressure on industrial and agricultural input costs, feeds headline inflation readings that the Federal Reserve watches closely, and adds volatility to energy markets where Catsimatidis’ United Refining is an active participant. If Carney and the White House can find a path to de-escalation, some of that pricing pressure could ease relatively quickly given how deep the supply chains between the two countries run.
Both leaders now face scheduling pressures. The Canadian prime minister is expected to keep pressing for tariff relief through the fall, while the White House has signaled that any easing will be tied to border and national security deliverables. With Election Day on November 3, the window for a clean deal before voters head to the polls is narrowing.
For now, Catsimatidis’ core message — that the next attack may not look like the last one — is likely to keep echoing through the anniversary period and into the campaign’s closing weeks.
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