Trade, Energy Top Obama Agenda in First Canada Trip

Jeff Mason and Ross Colvin
Reuters
February 17, 2009

Trade, energy and the global economic crisis will top the agenda of U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Canada on Thursday, his first foreign trip since taking over the White House last month.

Concerns about U.S. trade protectionism and plans to fight climate change will also feature during Obama's one-day visit, which includes meetings with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Canadian Parliament.

Analysts said the two leaders would spend time getting to know each other while possibly touching on sensitive issues such as Canada's troop presence in Afghanistan and the U.S. imprisonment of Canadian citizen Omar Khadr at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Obama plans to close the U.S. prison there...

..."This is an issue of economic survival for Canada," said Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas, a U.S.-based trade association. "Their economic well-being depends on access to the U.S. market. It's as simple as that."

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