Obama Taking Pro-Trade Message To Canada

[Purveyor]

Source: Associated Press

(02-17) 15:42 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) --

President Barack Obama heads to Canada on Thursday with a decidedly pro-trade message, hoping to reassure an enormously valuable partner that the U.S. is not pulling back even as it enforces new "Buy American" language and considers renegotiating the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement.

In his first foreign trip as president, Obama will meet with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Ottawa, the Canadian capital. The relationship between their countries is vital: No country takes part in as much daily trade with the U.S. or exports as much oil to the U.S. as Canada does.

Yet the new American president has stirred up some nervousness north of the border by pledging to renegotiate NAFTA, which links the U.S., Canada and Mexico, to get better labor and environmental standards. When he was seeking the Democratic presidential nomination a year ago, Obama said "we should use the hammer of a potential opt-out as leverage to ensure that we actually get labor and environmental standards that are enforced."

The Obama team now, though, is choosing softer language. A renegotiation on standards could spiral into a broader, and perhaps messier, reopening of NAFTA. Right now, the three nations have a big, lucrative trade zone.

"Obviously, given the delicate state of the global economy, (Obama) wants to make clear to Prime Minister Harper and to all of our trading partners that this is no time for anybody to give the impression that somehow we are interested in less — rather than more — trade," said Denis McDonough, Obama's senior foreign policy adviser, said Tuesday. "That's the message that he'll underscore."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/02/17/national/w104022S17.DTL

[wolfgangmo]

1. Don't get me wrong Obama is my president, but

Fuck him. He can't go to Canada with a bunch of "use a hammer" and "buy USA" rhetoric and expect to have his boots licked. I've told my relatives in Canada for decades to get their companies to diversify their customer base. USA won't buy the beef. Ship it to Japan. USA won't buy your lumber, then ship it to Mexico. I've told them this because, in my opinion, American's cannot be trusted to respect our shared history.

Canada is BY FAR our largest trading partner and BY FAR our best ally. And yet we often treat them worse than we do our enemies. I can tell you that sentiment in Canada is reaching the point where they may just shut off the pipelines and if they do that it's gonna be a long COLD winter in much of the US. We NEED them more than they need us. We should start acting like it before they decide that Canada "nice" is a waste of time with us Yanks.

We need to treat Canada like our best friend because that is what Canada is.

[Spazito]

2. I honestly don't see this as a 'hammer' to Canada...

We DO need trade between our countries, it is HOW that trade is carried on ie fair trade versus free trade, I support the former rather than the latter. I also don't have a problem with "Buy America First" wrt spending the Economic Recovery monies ie from American Steel Companies. I want Canada to do the same with our forthcoming Plan, buying Canadian made steel.

I now have hope the Obama Administration will work toward reforming the Free Trade Agreement to make it a Fair Trade Agreement. It will happen over time, no doubt, given the legitimate focus on rescuing the economy by both countries right now.

[gcomeau]

3. Ummm...

Fuck him. He can't go to Canada with a bunch of "use a hammer" and "buy USA" rhetoric and expect to have his boots licked.

As I read the article, isn't that exactly what it says he's NOT going to be doing? It pretty clearly says he's going to play nice.

[iverglas]

4. if I had a functioning credit card

I'd give you one of those little hearts. ;)

All I'd say is not to lay the rhetoric at Obama's personal doorstep too heavily. I don't think he's that heavily into it. Not that I think he's the peak of perfection either, of course.

And don't forget he's got Joe -- and when asked, in a one-on-one interview with surprise questions, where he'd choose to live if he absolutely could not live in the USA, Joe said without second thought or hesitation: Canada!

[Romulox]

5. Canada doesn't sell oil to the US as a favor; it's a market transaction.

"I can tell you that sentiment in Canada is reaching the point where they may just shut off the pipelines and if they do that it's gonna be a long COLD winter in much of the US."

Canada doesn't sell oil to the US as a favor; it's a market transaction.