- Bogdan Kipling
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Only six months ago, Prime Minister Stephen Harper saw a "historic" start in relations between Canada and the European Union.
His Quebec City setting was perfect and the occasion was not overstated one bit. Mr. Harper was flanked by President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Jose Manuel Barosso, president of the European Union, as he announced that Canada and the 27 member countries of the EU had a "comprehensive" economic partnership in the works.
Mr. Harper’s statement got little attention in Canada and none in the United States. Three days earlier, Canadians gave the Tories a fresh mandate and Canada’s commentariat was preoccupied with the "what does it mean?" question. Here in Washington, the silence was pretty overwhelming.
Canada fared better, by a whisker, last week when The Washington Times had a brief story in its "Briefly" roundup of news from the Americas. The Canada item carried the headline "Trade talks begin with EU" and Reuters mentions it in a story about International Trade Minister Stockwell Day’s visit in Washington.
Am I surprised? Heck, no. Canada gets little mention in the American media at the best of times, and right now American papers and TV are full of President Barack Obama’s "First Hundred Days" — in special sections yet.
No, I’m not surprised, but I am disappointed that a deal signaling a fundamental realignment in North America’s and Europe’s trade starts like a falling tree in the forest when there’s no one to hear it. Did it make a bang? Yes, philosophers’ disputes notwithstanding!
A distinguished international trade lawyer I called in Washington underscored the case. "It’s news to me," he said. Another prominent lawyer, Elliot Feldman, said he finds "no indication" of interest in Canada "in the Obama administration."
That the Harper government is keenly aware of the indifference is strikingly evident from its decision to hire two former White House spokesmen to help get Canada more ink and access in Washington.
Ari Fleischer, press secretary to President George W. Bush, and Mike McCurry, President Bill Clinton’s spokesman, have been retained, on a "temporary" basis, to open doors to American and international newsrooms, editorial boards and TV studios.
If the exact cost is known, I’m not clued in. But $350,000 a year each would not be out of line. Top talent charges a lot and, with Fleischer and McCurry, it should be worth every penny.
Canada and the European Union will open talks a week from now on a trade pact that would leave NAFTA in the dust, even if not all of its identified 14 objectives end up in the final document. There must be thousands of Canadians who have jobs and earn wages from the existing trade between the 27 members of the European Union and Canada.
Think of the existing trade barriers, particularly in the EU, and what it will mean when they are swept aside. Last year, Canada bought and sold about $112 billion Cdn worth of goods and services in the EU countries. This may be puny when compared with the roughly $2-billion-a-day exchange between Canada and the United States, but from little acorns mighty oaks grow.
Canada has been unhappy for years with the tariff harassment experienced in the American market — an irritant that NAFTA was supposed to eliminate. Add to this fairly recent baggage what lurks ahead and it becomes clear why Canada is eager for a trade pact with Europe.
Americans are the toughest customers when it comes to getting the most out of any deal. In my observation in Washington over the years, Americans are too clever by half.
I wouldn’t go so far as to trot out the old Wall Street line that the bulls win all the time, the bears win even if it’s only hope, but the pigs never win. However, it is impossible to overlook the obvious, and that is: You’ve got to let the other side make a decent living.
The Obama Administration shows disturbing signs that it has little beyond kind words for Canada. And that, in the eyes of some exquisitely informed Canada watchers in Washington, is too generous a reading.
The Obama election team, I learned, remains furious that Ottawa leaked a memo to the effect that Mr. Obama’s promise to revise NAFTA was mere election talk, and that Mr. Obama’s Republican rival, Sen. John McCain, was invited to make a campaign speech in Ottawa last June.
The sound of knives kissing the whetstone may be hyperbole, but the informed view in Washington is that Canada can expect little over the next four years.
All that may be true, but I still don’t see the Obama Administration’s indifference to what is a major shift in Canada’s trade pattern.
Bogdan Kipling is a Canadian journalist in Washington.
