Obama romances Canada

last updated 8 January 2015

In his first trip abroad, President Obama visited Canada Thursday, said Karim Bardeesy in Slate, following a tradition “upset by George W. Bush,” who stung Canadians by traveling first to Mexico. Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper talked about the three topics important to Canadians—trade, Afghanistan, and energy/climate change—but the trip will be judged by whether or not they forged “a good personal working relationship.”

By that measure, Obama’s visit was a success, said Don Martin in Canada’s National Post. Even though Harper is a Conservative, his “words and body language” suggested a preference for Obama over Bush. Policy-wise, the visit was an “irritant-avoidance exercise,” and the two men downplayed any disagreements on NAFTA and a U.S. “buy American” stimulus clause.