A Tighter Bond

The United States and Canada start the new year in formal agreement at last on a historic pact that sweeps aside trade barriers between the two nations. The agreement, the product of lengthy and intricate negotiations, promises even longer-lasting benefits to each country. It is also an important symbol in an era when international trade barriers too often go up more easily than they come down.

The landmark pact was almost a victim of unusually volatile Canadian politics. But Prime Minister Brian Mulroney campaigned vigorously for the pact, and his party won the recent parliamentary elections. Just before Christmas the Canadian House of Commons voted to approve the agreement, and days later the appointed Canadian Senate followed suit.

The Reagan Administration has rightly pointed to this treaty as its most important trade breakthrough. The United States and Canada trade more between themselves than do any other two nations in the world--$130 billion a year--and this agreement abolishes all remaining tariffs on that trade. It also ends or reduces other trade barriers on investments, agriculture, energy and financial services. The U.S.-Canadian agreement can also serve as a model for a world that badly needs to reduce trade barriers.

There’s still much work to be done to determine, for example, whether the agreement’s processes for resolving disputes work. At every step of the way both sides must apply the same diplomacy that has carried them this far. That’s especially true for the Americans, who must remember that while Mulroney won reelection, he did so with a minority of popular votes.

The House of Commons debate over the measure was not without acrimony. Canadians are often wary of their giant neighbor. Three times in the last century they edged near this kind of agreement, but never overcame their anxiety until now. Mulroney staked his political career on persuading the people of his country that they could face south with confidence, and he won. And so, when the debate was over, the ruling Progressive Conservatives rose to salute him with a long ovation. It was well deserved, and it should echo through the new year in both Canada and the United States.