Canada envoy takes trade message to US people

The Canadian ambassador to the United States said on Thursday his country must do a better job of selling to the American people the benefits of trade with Canada to avoid irritants such as "Buy American" language in last year's US economic stimulus measure.
In an interview with Reuters, Ambassador Gary Doer said it makes more sense to talk about US jobs created by trade with Canada, the largest export market for the United States, in the districts and states where US lawmakers live rather than in the political hothouse of Washington.
"What I'd like to do is make sure that we get to the congressional districts before the congressional representatives get to Washington," said Doer, who has served as Canada's ambassador to the United States for four months. "We've got to get to the 435 people on the Hill early," Doer added, referring to the number of voting members in the US House of Representatives. There are another 100 members of the US Senate. Two-way trade between the United States and Canada is worth more than $1.5 billion a day. Canada is the top energy supplier to the US market.
Eight million US jobs depend on trade with Canada, Doer said, noting that his government has state-by-state numbers it uses in talks with lawmakers, enlisting US businesses involved in cross-border trade to help make the case. Outside of energy, 20 percent of Canada's gross domestic product depends on US trade.
"We're not coming down here as Oliver Twist - 'Please, sir.' We're coming down here with facts of why it's important in the enlightened self-interest of both countries," he said. "I'm going to keep my message very simple: we're your best customer, we're your biggest supplier of energy, and more of our people visit the United States than any other country," Doer said.
Once US lawmakers pass legislation that affects trade between the two nations, it is hard to get it changed, Doer said, citing the recent "Buy American" provisions in a US economic stimulus package that cut Canadian businesses out of US state and municipal projects. The two countries reached a deal to ease the restrictions last month.
The US congressional elections in November will provide another opportunity for Canada to reach new lawmakers, Doer said. "As the Congress changes, let's hit the ground running," he said. Doer, a labour leader before he became a fixture in Canadian provincial politics, said he also has talked with US-based labour unions, which have cast trade deals as sucking jobs out of the United States.