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Macch-April 1972
with visiting Japanese trade officials,
that "Japan is our biggest custorner in
the world." This was certainly the big–
gest verbal
fallx pas
of Mr. Nixon's
otherwise rather remarkable term of
office.
The fact of the matter, of course, is
that Canada is
by
far
the biggest U. S.
customer. In fact Canada's "purchases
from the United States have for
many years approached in value
the
total of the
pt~rcha!e!
of America's fottr
next largest trading partners
-
Japan,
Gerrnany, Britain and France." (By
Ivan
L.
Head,
Foreign Affairs,
January,
1972,
italics the author's.)
Canada's stake in the two-way trade,
percentage wise, is even more rernark–
able. An amazing
70
percent of Canada's
total exports are earmarked for Ameri–
can consumption - a towering twelve
billion dollar market for the northerners
last year alone. An equal percentage of
Canada's imports originate south of the
border.
Overall total U. S.-Canadian trade
amounted to around
$23
billion in
1971.
And this is only part of the story.
The extent of U. S.
inveslment
in
Canadian industry is also vast. It is now
estimated to total
$35
billion - about
30 percent of all American investment
around the world!
The two North American powers
have thus linked to form the greatest
bilateral exchange of trade and invest–
ment in the
history of the world.'
Never
have two sovereign nations depended
upon each other so completely.
Simply "One of Us"
Certainly part of the average Arneri–
can's lack of immediate concern is an
underlying feeling that Canadians and
Americans really are "the same people."
Americans have become accustorned to
regarding Canada not as a separate
entity, a sovereign foreign nation, but
rather as a sort of northward American
extension - a virtual fifty-first state.
This attitude, however innocently
believed, is beginning to strike a dis–
cordant cord up north.
As one Canadian government official
told
The
PLAlN
TR.UTH: "People [in
the U. S.) think Canada is no different
than the United States. And in many
ways, the similarities are so numerous it
The
PLA!N TRUTH
is hard to see the distinctions. But we
are a self-governing, independent coun–
try with our own traditions, and our
own history. Sorne Americans have said
to me it is only a rnatter of time
[before] we become one nation."
And indeed there is much to lead one
to such a conclusion. The two peoples
have been linked, in effect, for cen–
turies, even before their respective dates
of independence. Their political and
legal systems both trace back to the
Magna Carta. The two countries basi–
cally sbare a common language -
although 30 percent of Canada's popu–
lation speaks French as its native
tongue. Aspects of culture, religíon,
education, and industry bear many
similarities.
One striking statistic is that over
thirty million living Americans are de–
scended from Canadians - eight million
29
America because of its enormous trade
inter-tie. But the Ottawa government
was jolted to sorne harsh economic facts
of life when its bid for exemption from
the ten percent surcharge was turned
aside. Even though the surcharge has
been lifted, ill feelings have not dis–
appeared.
Canada argued at the time that it
should not be "punished" for U. S.
domestic economic woes since it had
Aoated its currency relative to the U. S.
dollar sorne time ago. Washington,
however, aroused at its growing balance
of payrnents deficit with Canada - in
the neighborhood of
2.5
billion dollars
last year - determined that the "special
treatment" could no longer be tolerated.
One shocked Canadian official, terming
the surcharge impact "the most dramatic
thing to happen in Canada in decades,"
explained that his country "had always
Consolidatod New$
Pictures
NIXON AND TRUDEAU -
"like sleeping with an elephant."
more than the entire population of Can–
ada today!
The Surcharge Broadside
But in spite of the many natural
bonds between the two nations, signs of
a deteriorating relationship have been
detected for sorne time. And it was
painfully brought to a head last August
15, when Mr. Nixon announced his
emergency economic rneasures.
Canada has long taken for granted
that it had a "special relationship" with
been treated differently before, and
couldn't believe that the rules of the
game had changed."
Anti-Americanism- Sensitive
Issue
Mr. Nixon's bombshell, however,
only brought to the fore a more deeply
pervasive feeling of frustration - and
in sorne cases deep-seated resentment -
toward the United States.
The tempo of the time has even
spawned a few ultra -nationalistic