Introduction

People looking at Niagara Falls while aboard 'The Maid of the Mist' in Niagara. In the background is the bridge border crossing from Canada to the United States.

The relationship between the United States and Canada is among the closest and most extensive in the world. It is reflected in the staggering volume of bilateral trade -- the equivalent of $1.4 billion a day in goods -- as well as in people-to-people contact. About 400,000 people cross the border every day by all modes of tranport.

In fields ranging from law enforcement to environmental protection to free trade, the two countries work closely on multiple levels from federal to local. In addition to their close bilateral ties, Canada and the United States cooperate in multilateral fora. Canada -- a charter signatory to the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and a member of the G8 and G20 -- takes an active role in the United Nations, including peacekeeping operations, and participates in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Canada is active in international efforts to combat terrorist financing and money laundering. Canada joined the Organization of American States (OAS) in 1990. Canada seeks to expand its ties to Pacific Rim economies through membership in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC). Canada also recently expressed interest in joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement currently being negotiated between the United States, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.

Security and Defense

U.S. defense arrangements with Canada are more extensive than with any other country. The Permanent Joint Board on Defense, established in 1940, provides policy-level consultation on bilateral defense matters and the United States and Canada share NATO mutual security commitments. In addition, U.S. and Canadian military forces have cooperated since 1958 on continental air defense within the framework of the bi-national North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). The military response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States both tested and strengthened military cooperation between the United States and Canada. The new NORAD Agreement that entered into force on May 12, 2006 added a maritime domain awareness component and is of indefinite duration, subject to periodic review. Since 2002, Canada has participated in diplomatic, foreign assistance, and joint military actions in Afghanistan. The Canadian Forces withdrew combat troops from Afghanistan in 2011 and now have 950 trainers deployed in a non-combat training mission for the Afghan National Army and police until 2014.

While bilateral law enforcement cooperation and coordination were excellent prior to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, they have since become even closer through such mechanisms as the Cross Border Crime Forum. Canada, like the United States, has strengthened its laws and realigned resources to fight terrorism. Canadian and U.S. federal and local law enforcement personnel fight cross-border crime through cooperation on joint Integrated Border Enforcement Teams. Companies on both sides of the border have joined governments in highly successful partnerships and made significant investments to secure their own facilities and internal supply chains. Crossing the border is now both more secure and faster than in 2001. President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Harper announced the creation of the Beyond the Border (BTB) initiative on February 4, 2011 and unveiled the BTB Action Plan on December 7, 2011. The BTB initiative will strengthen security at the border through increased information sharing and law enforcement cooperation while streamlining the flow of goods and people between the two countries.

Energy and The Environment

The United States and Canada also work closely to resolve trans-boundary environmental and water issues, an area of increasing importance in the bilateral relationship. A principal instrument of this cooperation is the International Joint Commission (IJC), established as part of the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909, to resolve differences and promote international cooperation on boundary waters; Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon celebrated the treaty's centenary in June 2009. The The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of 1978 (as amended in 1987) is another historic example of joint cooperation in controlling trans-boundary water pollution. President Barack Obama's administration has committed itself, along with Canada, to update the agreement. On June 13, 2009, Secretary of State Clinton and Foreign Affairs Minister Cannon announced the decision to enter into negotiations of an amended agreement. Negotiations are ongoing and a final agreement is expected early 2012.

The Columbia River Treaty, ratified in 1964, established a historical precedent in bilateral management of vital water resources in the Pacific Northwest. It is known throughout the world as one of the most successful transboundary water treaties based on equitable sharing of downstream benefits. Under this Treaty, Canada and the United States (U.S.) jointly regulate and manage the Columbia River as it flows from British Columbia into the United States. The Treaty has provided substantial flood control and power generation benefits to both nations. According to the treaty, 2024 marks the end of 60 years of pre-paid flood control space from Canada. In addition, either Canada or the United States can terminate most of the provisions of the Treaty any time on or after Sep. 16, 2024, with a minimum 10 years’ written advance notice, making 2014 the latest date either side could notify and have the treaty terminate in 2024. Both Governments have initiated a Treaty review that is ongoing.

The United States and Canada signed an agreement in June 1999 that settled differences over managing shared salmon populations under the 1985 Pacific Salmon Treaty. Most of this management regime was renewed for another ten years in 2008. In 2001, the two countries reached agreement on Yukon River salmon, implementing a new abundance-based resource management regime and effectively realizing coordinated management of shared Pacific salmon populations. The United States and Canada reached agreement in 2003 on sharing another trans-boundary marine resource, Pacific hake, but have struggled to appoint individuals to implement the agreement. The two countries also have a treaty on joint fishing for albacore tuna in the Pacific, a successful 88-year bilateral treaty for Pacific halibut management, and closely cooperate on a range of bilateral fisheries issues and international high seas governance initiatives.

Canada ratified the Kyoto Protocol in 2002. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government announced in 2006, however, that Canada would not be able to meet its original Kyoto Protocol emissions reduction commitments. Subsequently the government has proposed various legislative and regulatory approaches to address domestic GHG-emissions, however, since late 2008 Canada has emphasized that it would coordinate its greenhouse gas emissions reduction plan with that of the United States. Harmonized regulations for GHG emissions of light-duty cars and trucks have been completed; heavy-duty vehicles, locomotives and marine vessel rules and rules for non-transportation sectors will follow. At the fifteenth conference of the parties to the UNFCCC held in Copenhagen (COP-15), Canada joined the United States and 112 other countries—including all the major economies—in associating with the Copenhagen Accord, as well as inscribing an emissions reduction pledge as part of the Accord, which mirrors the pledge made by the United States in our Accord inscription. These pledges were anchored in the official UNFCCC process a year later in Cancun.

Canada is a staunch ally of the United States in the international climate change negotiations. Canada announced in June 2011 that they would not take on a second commitment under the Kyoto Protocol, and in December 2011 the government announced the country would officially withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol–making it the first country to formally do so.

In February 2009 President Obama and Prime Minister Harper announced the bilateral Clean Energy Dialogue (CED), which is charged with expanding clean energy research and development; developing and deploying clean energy technology; and building a more efficient electricity grid based on clean and renewable energy in order to reduce greenhouse gases and combat climate change in both countries. U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Canadian Minister of Environment Jim Prentice serve as the lead government officials for moving the Clean Energy Dialogue forward.

Canada also participates in the U.S.-led Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, which includes the world's 17 largest economies as well as the UN; the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, which joins it with the United States, Japan, Australia, South Korea, China, and India in a broad effort to accelerate the development and deployment of clean energy technologies in major industrial sectors; and the International Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum, which researches effective ways to capture and store carbon dioxide.