With a healthy economy that is benefiting from its economically troubled neighbor to the south, Canada has little to complain about these days regarding its relationship with the United States. Yet there is always room for improvement on both sides of their lengthy, shared border.
That was the message from Canadian Ambassador Michael Wilson during a recent visit to Wharton during which he addressed a wide range of topics, including border movement and security, energy trading, rebuilding Afghanistan, and political posturing in the U.S. presidential campaign regarding the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). "The relationship between the U.S. and Canada is a huge one. We share a very long border, and we are each other's largest trading partner," said Wilson, who noted that more than 400,000 people cross the U.S.-Canada border every day.
Indeed, while many people believe that China is the United States' biggest trading partner, Canada annually spends more than $200 billion on goods and services from the U.S. compared to China's $65 billion. In addition, Canada is America's top energy trading partner, providing more oil, natural gas, electricity and uranium to the U.S. than any other country. Currently, about 7.1 million jobs in the U.S. are related to companies in Canada.
The Politics of NAFTA
Wilson, who helped negotiate NAFTA, said the agreement certainly needs improvement but should not be fully renegotiated. He described renegotiation as a "very dangerous process." Implemented in 1994, the pact between Canada, Mexico and the U.S. eliminated trade tariffs and generally aimed to improve trade between the three countries. NAFTA's critics in the U.S. have blamed the agreement for taking away jobs from working-class citizens.
"To the Democratic candidates who are talking about labor and renegotiating agreements, I say, don't do it," Wilson stated. "If we open up the whole agreement, it could put us back to square one .
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