ABSTRACT
The United States and Canada have often been thought to have very similar national and business cultures. 3 This assumption may have been based on older studies showing that American and Canadian values and attitudes were more similar to each other and together more distinct from those of other cultural groupings or clusters of nations. 4 Certainly, the two nations have long shared a very close trade relationship. Since the signing of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 1988, and the inclusion of Mexico in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that superseded the FTA in 1994, Canada and the United States have each been the other’s top trading partner. For 2012, Canada accounted for 16.1 percent of total American trade (exports + imports), ahead of China (14.0 percent), Mexico (12.9 percent), and Japan (5.9 percent). 5 In 2010, trade with the United States accounted for 74.9 percent of total Canadian trade. 6
However, these days Canada is actively seeking to reduce its trade dependence on American markets. It is predicted that by 2020, the United States will receive only about 66 percent of Canadian direct exports, down from 85 percent in 2002. 7 This reduction in trade has resulted from relative parity in the value of American and Canadian currency, greater American imports from China, and new free trade agreements with other countries. In addition, The United States is beginning to seem an unreliable trading partner, placing its domestic politics ahead of its trade relationship with Canada. The long delayed approval process for the Keystone XL Pipeline, 8 intended to pipe landlocked Alberta oil sands oil to the Gulf of Mexico, has the Canadian government seriously considering selling the oil to East Asia instead, by way of an all Canadian route. 9 There are also perennial disputes about softwood lumber and Canadian meat products.
