Obama’s Emphasis on Trade Opens Door to Ease Border Issues

(Barbara Yaffe — Vancouver Sun)

A 2007 study points out that more than seven million U.S. jobs depend on trade with Canada

If Barack Obama’s intention is to create jobs for Americans by boosting trade, he’ll have to start paying more attention to the beleaguered Canada-U.S. border.

Obama’s jobs message, outlined in a recent State of the Union address to Congress, suggests Canada may finally have the opening it needs to take its long-standing case for easing border bottlenecks to Washington.

An article by American researcher Kathryn Friedman, appearing in the latest issue of the Canadian political journal Policy Options, urges stakeholders on both sides of the border to begin lobbying D.C. policy-makers, reminding them that “the Canada-U.S. economic relationship . . . is the lifeline for continued prosperity.”

Friedman, deputy director of the University of Buffalo Regional Institute, says it’s time for the two countries to devise a joint governing structure for the 49th parallel, “perhaps one modelled upon Norad,” which supervises continental air defence.

“The global recession provides an opportunity to link recovery of the United States and President Obama’s legacy to border policy,” writes Friedman. Read more here.