Foreign Affairs

Obama Says Hello to Canada

Will meet Prime Minister to discuss trade.

Suggestions welcome for an inexpensive peace offering. President Obama is making his way north today to convince Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper that the pesky "Buy American" clause inserted in the really-this-is-the-final stimulus package doesn't apply to his country. A top Obama aide said the president's first foreign visit would assuage fears that the United States was disinterested in a healthy trading agreement, reports The Washington Post. The two will also discuss the environment as groups are lobbying Obama to restrict the Canadian import of tar sand oil, which he admits creates a "big carbon footprint" but whose effect on the climate change may be lessened by technology.