Canada and the United States
Definition The domestic and foreign policy issues
that define relations between Canada and the
United States
Canada and the United States share the longest unde-
fended border in the world. Relations between the two na-
tions reflect a common British heritage, language, and
goals. The two countries worked closely during the 1990’s:
On the domestic front, the establishment of the North Ameri-
can Free Trade Agreement removed trade barriers between
them; on issues of foreign policy, Canada cooperated with
U.S.-led interventions around the world.
The 1990’s brought two American presidents,
George H. W. Bush (1989-1993) and Bill Clinton
(1993-2001), into discussions with Canadian prime
ministers Brian Mulroney (1984-1993), Kim Camp-
bell (1993), and Jean Chrétien (1993-2003). The
leaders of both nations addressed the domestic is-
sues of trade (namely NAFTA, the North American
Free Trade Agreement), international terrorism,
narcotrafficking, poverty, G7 and G8 summits, the
environment, and foreign policy actions in the Gulf
War, Bosnia, Cuba, and Kosovo.
Canadian Identity By the 1990’s, Canadian na-
tional identity was strengthened by the redefined re-
lationship with Great Britain, with whom Canada
shares a common sovereign, and the resolution of
the Quebec separatist movement. In 1982, Canada
assumed control over its own constitution, severing
Canada’s legislative ties to London’s Parliament
and ending a final vestige of Canada’s colonial past.
The Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords (1987
and 1992), which would have given Quebec special
status within the Canadian confederation, failed to
achieve ratification by the required number of pro-
vincial legislatures. Quebec’s threats to secede from
Canada were dealt a lethal blow in 1995, when a sec-
ond Quebec referendum failed to achieve a majority
vote to create an independent state. A renewed
sense of national identity strengthened Canada’s
bargaining position with the United States and led
to more divergent positions between the two na-
tions.
NAFTA and the Kyoto Protocol The North Ameri-
can Free Trade Agreement took effect January 1,
1994, and was fully implemented in 2008. Most trade
and investment barriers have been removed among
Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Almost all
tariffs on agricultural trade between Canada and the
United States were removed by 1998. Canada is the
United States’ largest export market, with an 81 per-
cent increase since 1990 and trade worth over $450
million. Canadian approval of NAFTA was facilitated
by the previously negotiated Canada-United States
Free Trade Agreement in 1989; Mulroney’s reelec-
tion victory (1988), which included a national de-
bate on NAFTA; and the close professional relation-
ship shared by Prime Minister Mulroney with
Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.
However, Canada and the United States diverged
when Canada became the first major industrialized
country to sign the international accord on biodi-
versity and climate change proposed by the United
Nations Conference on the Environment, the Kyoto
Protocol, in 1998 (ratified in 2002). The United
States has yet to ratify this agreement.
The Gulf War, Bosnia, and Kosovo Canada was the
first nation to condemn the Iraqi-led invasion of Ku-
wait in 1990 and contributed four thousand troops
in the U.N.-backed and U.S.-led coalition force of
thirty-four nations. Prime Minister Mulroney as-
signed two destroyers to enforce a trade blockade
of Iraq, a supply ship to aid coalition forces, a CF-18
air squadron, and a field hospital. No Canadian ca-
sualties were suffered while under U.S. command.
Canadian forces undertook peacekeeping opera-
tions in Bosnia in 1993 under U.N. command, and
in Kosovo in 1999 as part of their military commit-
ment to the U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organiza-
tion (NATO).
The Chrétien-Clinton Era During the tenure of
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, a close relationship
developed between the prime minister and Presi-
dent Bill Clinton. A state visit to Canada in 1995, a
prelude to the G7 conference in Halifax, Nova Sco-
tia, emphasized the shared agenda of Canada and
the United States. The two nations agreed to con-
tinue to work to stabilize Haiti and to resolve trade
disputes over wheat, timber, and salmon fishing.
Agreements between Canada and the United States
achieved improvements in combating terrorism and
organized crime but fell short on the issue of drug
trafficking with Canada’s consideration of decrimi-
nalizing marijuana. At a 1997 state dinner in Wash-
ington, D.C., both Clinton and Chrétien agreed to
work together on the International Space StationThe Nineties in America Canada and the United States 147