Canada envoy warns against trade barriers

Canada’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Wilson, warned Tuesday against protectionism that could damage the $600 billion trade relationship between the two countries.

The trade volume exceeds that between any other two countries in the world, he said, noting that Canada buys more U.S. goods than Europe, and four times as much as China.

Wilson said “Buy American” provisions in some economic recovery measures are troubling, and could trigger retaliatory measures – for example, he joked, the recall of all the Canadian players on the Spokane Chiefs hockey team.

Wilson said corporate supply chains extend back and forth over the border, notably in the automotive industry, increasing efficiency and product quality.

“We make stuff together,” he said, and 7 million American jobs depend on a transparent border. Excessive fees and paperwork threaten to gum up the flow of goods and materials, he said.

Wilson said Canada has implemented an economic stimulus plan to help soften the shocks from U.S. economic difficulties, but his nation is in much better financial shape because of a string of federal government surpluses, prudent consumers and a banking system that abstained from poor lending practices. As a result, Canadian banks are rated the world’s soundest, he said.

In 2007, bilateral trade between Canada and Washington state totaled $22 billion, spanning energy, agriculture and aerospace, Wilson said.

Canadians made 2 million visits to Washington last year, Wilson said, and next year’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver should be a boon to the state.

Before his presentation to the Association of Washington Business, representatives of the Inland Northwest Aerospace Consortium and the Western Aerospace Alliance that includes Canada’s four western provinces signed a reciprocity agreement. Cascade Aerospace, based in Abbotsford, B.C., dedicated a Spokane hangar last week.