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Baird Attends Pre-Inauguration Dinner
January 21, 2013 - Washington, D.C. - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird welcomes invited guests, mainly political and business leaders with an interest in the Canada-U.S. relationship, to a pre-Inauguration dinner January 20, 2013, at the official residence of Canada’s ambassador to the United States.
Since the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement came into force in 1989, Canada’s annual GDP has risen by $1.1 trillion, nearly 4.6 million jobs have been created in Canada, and two-way trade in goods and services with the United States has more than tripled.
However, Canada is not immune to global challenges from beyond our borders. Canada’s economy will be affected by the health of our most important trading partner. That’s why our government has:
- developed the Beyond the Border Action Plan, the most significant bilateral agreement between our two countries since the North American Free Trade Agreement;
- partnered to build a new bridge between Windsor and Detroit that will significantly increase the trade and economic growth between our two countries;
- worked with the United States to gain a seat at the negotiating table for the Trans-Pacific Partnership; and
- signed an extension to the Softwood Lumber Agreement, which secured Canadian softwood lumber access to the U.S. market until 2015.
The Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and the Beyond the Border Action Plan, which is the largest bilateral agreement since NAFTA, have benefited Canadian families enormously.
Our government will continue to engage constructively with the Obama administration as we look to create more jobs, hope and opportunity in our two great nations.
