CANADA-U.S. RELATIONS

Two phrases exemplify the ambiguous historical relationship between Canada and the United States: "the undefended border," a rhetorical staple of the early twentieth century emphasizing the relatively peaceful political relations and close economic linkages between the two countries, and Canada as "a mouse next to an elephant," coined by Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau in the 1970s, focusing on the disparity of political and economic power in the relationship.

Relations between the United States and British North America from the American Revolution to Canadian confederation in 1867 was marked by tension over territorial issues and less abrasive but still uneasy economic relations. At the outset of the Revolution, Americans tried unsuccessfully to invade Quebec, which was subsequently used as a base for British counterattacks. At the Paris peace conference in 1782-1783, boundary settlements were complicated by Britain's decision to resettle refugee Loyalists in present-day Ontario and the Maritime Provinces, creating an enduring bastion of anti-American sentiment in the early years of the Republic. Rivalry between American settlers and British-backed Indian tribes in the Ohio Valley aggravated border tensions, culminating in an American invasion of Ontario in 1812 that was blocked by the Loyalist militia and British regulars.

After the War of 1812, improved Anglo-American relations led to the demilitarization of the Great Lakes and the movement of American settlers into Ontario, paralleled by a migration of French Canadians from Quebec to work in New England textile mills. But tempers flared again after 1837 over American sympathies with rebellious elements in Quebec and Ontario, and rivalry between lumberjacks along the Maine-New Brunswick border. The latter was settled by the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842, and another boundary dispute, between Americans in the Columbia River valley and the Hudson's Bay Company in Oregon Territory, was resolved in 1846.

Trade between the United States and British North America was limited by Britain's preferential system in the early nineteenth century. When Britain dismantled its mercantile system after 1846, however, its North American colonies looked south, and the Elgin-Marcy Treaty, a reciprocal trade agreement affecting agricultural products and raw materials, was negotiated in 1854. The onset of the American Civil War imperiled these growing linkages: U.S. suspicions of Britain's pro-Southern sympathies were intensified by Confederate use of British North America as a base for raids on American shipping and border settlements. After 1865, similar concerns were aroused north of the border as Irish Fenians raided Ontario and New Brunswick from U.S. bases. Meanwhile, protectionist elements in the U.S. Congress successfully agitated against renewal of the reciprocity treaty in 1866. This deterioration and demands in Congress for annexation of British North America strengthened the case of advocates of unification in the debates over Canadian confederation, which was achieved in 1867.

Toward the end of the century political relations improved in tandem with Anglo-American rapprochement: during the Alaska boundary controversy of 1903, for example, Britain prevailed on Canada to accept a compromise solution. Although coordinating its foreign policies with Britain up to the 1930s, Canada negotiated bilaterally with the United States on specific issues, such as use of common waterways and fisheries through a joint commission. The majorsteps toward direct political cooperation came in World War II: the Ogdensburg Agreement, negotiated by Franklin D. Roosevelt and Canadian prime minister Mackenzie King, established a Permanent Joint Board of Defense, and the Hyde Park Agreement coordinated economic war mobilization of the two countries. These linkages were forged anew in the cold war: Canada joined nato in 1949 and contributed troops to U.N. forces in Korea. More specific bilateral ties took shape in this period as well: defense production-sharing agreements were renewed, the St. Lawrence Seaway was developed cooperatively, and Canada permitted placement of U.S. radar networks across the northern territories, culminating in the joint North American Air Defense Command (norad) in 1957.

Economic relations progressed in the same direction between 1867 and 1960, although not without periods of friction and debate among Canadians over long-term costs and benefits. Canadian efforts to renew reciprocal trade after 1870 were rebuffed, and in 1879 Canada adopted a "National Policy" instituting protective tariffs for industry and constructing an "all-Canadian" railway to the Pacific Coast. A new reciprocity agreement drafted in 1911 was stillborn when the Canadian government that negotiated it was defeated in an election. But despite this setback, Canadian-American trade increased and by the mid-1920s surpassed Anglo-Canadian commerce. Meanwhile, American direct investment in Canada's resource and manufacturing sectors grew, stimulated in part by Canada's National Policy tariffs; here also American investment exceeded that of Britain by 1930.

The trade rivalries incident to the Great Depression temporarily slowed the trend toward closer economic ties, but reciprocal trade agreements in 1935 and 1938 significantly reduced commercial barriers in agriculture and natural products. Canada's postwar participation in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (gatt) led to mutual reductions of tariff restrictions on industrial products. Proposals for a Canadian-U.S. customs union in 1948, however, were not pursued.

During the 1960s these close political and economic linkages came under more critical scrutiny, particularly in Canada. The U.S. government objected to Canadian trade with Communist China and Cuba and many Canadians opposed the arming of missiles located in Canada with nuclear warheads. During the Vietnam War, Canadian leaders criticized U.S. policies and allowed American draft resisters to flee to their country. Friction widened into a more general critique in Canada of the degree of American influence. By the mid-1970s, concerns over alleged American domination of Canadian energy resources and industry and the pervasiveness of the U.S. media in Canada led to measures to limit foreign investment, particularly in the oil industry, develop trade links beyond North America, and establish an arm's-length posture toward the United States. After 1984, however, relations became less contentious. The Canadian government, alarmed by growing protectionist sentiment in the United States, negotiated a Free Trade Agreement that took effect in 1989.

The debate in Canada over this agreement reflected the historical ambivalence of Canadians toward the United States. While supporting collective security and acknowledging mutual cultural and political traditions as well as the economic benefits of access to U.S. markets and capital, Canadians remained wary of the prospects of close integration with their neighbor. To this day, Canadian nationalism defines itself largely in terms of the cultural characteristics that distinguish Canadians from Americans.

John B. Brebner, North Atlantic Triangle: The Interplay of Canada, the United States and Britain (1945); Norman Hillmer, ed., Partners Nevertheless: Canadian-American Relations in the Twentieth Century (1989); Reginald C. Stuart, United States Expansionism and British North America, 1775-1870 (1988).

Graham D. Taylor

See also Fenian Brotherhood; Paris, Treaty of (1783); War of 1812.