Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, United States President George W. Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon (left to right) share a laugh with proprietors Leah and Dooky Chase before breakfast in New Orleans, Louisiana, Tuesday, April 22, 2008. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tom Hanson
Harper says U.S. won't get better deal if it seeks to reopen NAFTA
NEW ORLEANS — Prime Minister Stephen Harper has linked any potential renegotiation of NAFTA to American dependence on Canadian energy.
And should a future U.S. president decide to reopen the 14-year-old agreement, says Harper, Canada will be bargaining from a position of great strength.
"We'll be prepared for any eventuality," Harper told a closing news conference at the North American leaders' summit.
Talk of reopening or killing the North American Free Trade Agreement became a dominant theme at this fourth annual incarnation of the Security and Prosperity Partnership.
Harper, outgoing U.S. President George W. Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon were responding to strong anti-NAFTA rhetoric coming from the super-charged Democratic primary contenders.
While Bush and Calderon used Tuesday's closing conference to praise NAFTA and reject talk of reopening the deal, Harper took a more pointed position.
As Democratic contenders Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton - both of whom have blasted NAFTA - awaited the results of Tuesday's Pennsylvania primary, Harper laid down some markers.
"The American people are going to make a decision," said the prime minister. "A future American administration may have a different view (on NAFTA)."
While stressing the trade arrangement's position attributes for all three countries, Harper suggested reopening the deal might not improve U.S. fortunes.
"Canada is the United States' No. 1 supplier of energy. We are a secure and stable supplier," said Harper, standing at a lecturn next to Bush and Calderon.
"That is of critical importance to the future of the United States. And if we had to look at this kind of an option, I think quite frankly, you know, we would be in an even stronger position now than we were 20 years ago. And we'll be in a stronger position in the future."
As Bush chuckled into his microphone, Harper added:
"But my preference is not to renegotiate what we discussed in the past, and to talk about the future."
Rather than revisiting NAFTA, all three leaders at the summit said they're endeavouring to add even greater integration to North America's economic region.
"Now is not the time to renegotiate NAFTA or to walk away from NAFTA," Bush said in his closing statement.
Calderon said the three countries shouldn't "even think about amending it" at present.
And Harper said business leaders across the continent agree the discussion should be on "how to make our relationship more integrated and deeper."
The prime minister said he "specifically raised concerns about the so-called thickening of the Canada-U.S. border," during talks over two days in New Orleans.
Congestion and more extensive security screening at border crossings have resulted in logjams that impede the easy movement of people and goods between the two countries. Harper said it's an issue that has been of particular concern to the business community for several years now.
The four-year-old Security and Prosperity Partnership among the three countries was designed to cut red tape and increase efficiencies within NAFTA, but U.S. presidential politics and the American economic downturn have conspired to make NAFTA a whipping post.
The three countries share the largest trading partnership in the world, totalling nearly US$1 trillion a year.
George Bush with the Canadian Prime Minster yesterday 
Canadian Prime Minster Stephen Harper, US President George W. Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderón met yesterday at the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America summit, held this year in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The first meeting was between Bush and Calderón. Afterwards, Bush noted that they "had a very long and very good discussion on a variety of issues. U.S. and Mexican relations are very important."

Bush congratulated Calderón. "I want to congratulate you and thank you for your strong leadership," he said.

"We talked about trade, and how trade has been beneficial to both of our countries," continued Bush, describing the meeting before the speech. "When you and I grew up in our respective countries, the border region of Mexico and the United States was very poor. And today when you go down there, there's prosperity on both sides of the border," he said, claiming that the countries had been successful in combating poverty.

Listen to the audio of the speech made by Bush and CalderónMr. Calderón then took over. "Thank you very much, Mr. President. Thank you so much for your hospitality and for a very long and productive discussion we had today. As is fitting for the relationship that Mexico and the United States enjoy, we have been able to discuss a long list of issues today, because we have a very complex and rich relationship."

Later in the day Bush met with Canada's Prime Minister. "I don't know if the people of Canada understand the leadership role you took in Romania, but it was strong and effective," stated Bush in the joint press conference after the meeting.

Later in the press conference, Bush noted that he's "always interested in making sure that, if there's any bilateral tensions or bilateral issues, that I know of them, so that we can work collaboratively to deal with them."

Listen to the audio of the speech made by Bush and Harper
Bush also mentioned other points from the meeting: "We also talked about the importance of trade between Canada and the United States, and Canada and Mexico, and the United States and Mexico. And I assured the Prime Minister that I'm a strong advocate for free trade. I believe it's in our nations' interests that we continue to have a free trade agenda. All of us want to make sure we're treated fairly, and we can do that. And this summit comes at an opportune time to reaffirm the benefits of the trading arrangements between our three nations."

Calderón finished the press conference with, "we the two leaders have some important joint work going on, not just in this continent but around the world, including in Afghanistan. I appreciate your words about Bucharest, and I can tell you our armed forces look very much forward to working in partnership with your people in Kandahar."