Obama's visit to Canada - A Traditional trip for U.S. Presidents since 1923
Sunday, February 22, 2009
On Thursday Feb, 19, 2009, President Obama hopped on Air Force One and flew north, taking his first foreign trip to Canada. Most presidents dating back to Warren Harding in 1923 have taken their first maiden foreign voyage as President to Canada.
President Bush was not one of those Presidents. Instead he traveled south to Mexico during his first foreigh visit in 2001 to work an immigration deal with Mexico. So right from the start, he was deviating from the historical pattern that most Presidents take after taking office.
Canadian-U.S. bilateral trade was one of the topics between Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Harper says that he might be willing to negotiate but not by "opening the whole NAFTA and unraveling what is a very complex agreement." Canada is the United States' largest trading partner and with $1.5 billion in trade between the two nations, they have the largest trading relationship in the world.
One of the people surprisingly enough to actually read the Stimulus Package was Harper. He mentioned to President Obama that a quote in it to "buy American", a quote that the Congress added to the $787 billion billion economic stimulus package and said "We expect the United States to adhere to its international obligations. I can't emphasize how important it is that we do that."
Like George Bush, the conservative leader Harper was close to President Bush 'personally and on policy.' But there was a clear understanding that he was going to support the now more popular Barack Obama.
It was a very pleasant 7-hour visit by Barack Obama to Canada.
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