Obama, Harper vow unity

OTTAWA | President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Thursday put off making major decisions on trade and a climate-change pact, instead promising cross-border cooperation and taking swipes at former President George W. Bush.

In his first foreign trip since becoming president one month ago, Mr. Obama greeted Canadian leaders and held a joint press conference with Mr. Harper, who had been more ideologically aligned with Mr. Bush than the upstart Democrat.

“I expect that four years from now the U.S.-Canadian relationship will be even stronger than it is today,” Mr. Obama said. “I love this country and think that we could not have a better friend and ally.”

Both downplayed their disagreements - with Mr. Harper saying only it was “premature” to take on Mr. Obama’s energy stance and the nations’ differing positions on the tar sands oil reserves until his administration sets its policies.

The tar sands are giant deposits of petroleum trapped in sand and clay in Alberta. Extracting that oil produces more greenhouse gases than conventional oil drilling, and environmentalists have called on Mr. Obama to limit its use in the U.S.

Mr. Obama, meanwhile, promised his tough campaign rhetoric on the North American Free Trade Agreement would not disrupt the relationship between the U.S. and Canada, the world’s largest trading partners, and that the “Buy American” provisions in the stimulus were consistent with American obligations.

Mr. Harper stressed that the U.S.-Canada portion of NAFTA has been in place for 21 years, leading to “a massive explosion of trade.”

“It was already the biggest trading relationship in the world; it’s so much bigger now. And that trade supports, you know, countless millions of jobs.

“Now, you know, I know some aspects of trade invariably cause political concerns, but nobody should think for a minute that trade between Canada and the United States is anything but a benefit between the two of us,” Mr. Harper said.

He added they share concerns about environmental and labor provisions but opening NAFTA unravels “what is a very complex agreement” and that he expects Mr. Obama will adhere to “international obligations.”

He said international stimulus plans must be “synchronized” for the global recession, and added that unlike the “Buy America” provision in the U.S. package, the Canadian stimulus removes duties on some imported goods.

Mr. Obama assured Mr. Harper that “I want to grow trade and not contract it.”

“Now is a time where we’ve got to be very careful about any signals of protectionism,” he said.

Mr. Harper, speaking in both French and English, announced they had agreed to a new “U.S.-Canada clean energy dialogue” that would include senior U.S. and Canadian officials who would “collaborate on the development of clean energy science and technologies.”

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