(CEP News) - During his first foreign trip as President, Barack Obama pledged to work closely with Canada and maintain a level of dialogue open between the two countries.

President Obama said the U.S. and Canada must “deepen and renew” their co-operation on a host of issues, and suggested today’s meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper was the first step in opening the dialogue between the two countries.

When asked about the possibility of reopening the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he had alluded to during his election campaign, Obama said, “Now is a time where we have to be very careful about any signals of protectionism.” He also stressed the need to grow trade and not contract it, and that there is nothing in the U.S. stimulus package that is “adverse to that goal.”

Harper said trade between the countries have been nothing but beneficial and that he and Obama had a “good discussion” about the President’s concerns over NAFTA and that they will look at ways to address those concerns without reopening and “unravelling” NAFTA, which he said is a very good agreement.

By Stephen Huebl, shuebl@economicnews.ca

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Posted in Categories: Canada, Economy, Eurozone, Releases, USA.

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