A Continental Philosophy
| Published date | 01 September 1998 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070209805300304 |
| Date | 01 September 1998 |
| Author | Greg Donaghy |
| Subject Matter | Article |
GREG
DONAGHY
A
continental
philosophy
Canada,
the
United
States,
and
the
negotiation
of
the
autopact,
1963-65
THE
PREVAILING
INTERPRETATION OF
CANADIAN-AMERICAN
RELATIONS
in
the
1960s emphasizes
the
fundamental
differences
that
came
to
divide
these
close
cold
war
allies
during
a
decade
of
rapid change.
For
most
historians,
relations
under
Prime
Minister
Lester
B.
Pearson
and
President
Lyndon
Johnson
were
typified
by
mutual
hostility,
the
prod-
uct
of
Canadian
nationalism
and
profound
differences
over
the
war in
Vietnam.I
But
this
is
only
part
of
the story.
At
a
time
when
economic
national-
ists
began
to
flex
their
muscle
in
Ottawa, Canada
and
the
United
States
developed
a
framework
for
economic
co-operation
that
drew
the
two
countries
more
closely
together
than
ever.
A
series
of
working
agree-
ments
and
official-level
committees
emerged
during
the
decade
to
oversee
financial relations
between
the
two
countries.
During
the
Kennedy
Round
of
the
General
Agreement
on
Tariffs
and Trade
(GATT),
which
opened
in
May
1964,
bilateral
negotiations reduced
or
Historian, Historical
Section,
Corporate
Communications
Division,
Department
ofFopreign
Affairs
and
International
Trade,
Ottawa.
I
would
like
to
thank
Michael
Hart
and
Dimitry
Anastakis
for
their
helpful
comments on
earlier
versions
of
this
paper.
The
views expressed
in
it
art
mine alone.
1
See,
for
example,
Norman
Hilimer
and
J. L.
Granatstein,
ForBetteror
For Worse:
Canada
and
the
United
States
to
the
199os
(Toronto:
Copp
Clark Pitman
1991),
234.
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Summer
1998
Greg
Donaghy
removed
tariffs
on
$3
billion-worth
of
North
American
trade.2
In Jan-
uary
1965,
the
two countries
signed
the
Canada-United
States
Agree-
ment
on
Automotive Products,
or
autopact,
a
conditional
free
trade
arrangement
that
tried
to
come
to
terms
with
the
implications
of
the
highly
interdependent
economic relationship
that
had
developed
since
the
1940s.
The
autopact
is
a
particularly
important
example
of
Cana-
dian-American
interaction,
and
its
evolution
casts
a
very
different
light
on
relations
between
Canada
and
the
United
States
in
the
mid-1960s.
The United
States
was
a
tolerant
ally,
responding
to
the
economic
nationalism
that
underlay unilateral
Canadian
efforts to
deal
with
its
perennial
trade
deficit
in
automotive products
in
an
imaginative and
thoughtful manner.
Although
it
was
determined
not
to
sacrifice
its
legitimate
interests
for
the
sake
of
bilateral
harmony,
the
United
States
was
ready
to
seek
an
equitable
arrangement
for
sharing
the
North
American
automotive
industry
in
a
way
which
acknowledged
the
unique
conditions
confronting
Canada,
the
smaller
neighbour
of
an
economic
giant. Washington
tried
hard
to persuade
Ottawa
to
resolve
their
differences
over
automotive products
in
a
co-operative
manner
that
stressed
their common
economic
interests.
In
doing
so,
it
posed
a
fundamental
question
for
Pearson's
government: should
Canada
agree
to
the
further
integration
of
the
two
North
American
economies
in
exchange
for
the
benefits
that
greater
access
to
the
United
States
mar-
ket
would
make possible?
The
issue
divided
the
cabinet
and
pitted
so-called
continentalists
against
economic
nationalists.
One
wing,
led
by
the
nationalist
minis-
ter
of
finance,
Walter
Gordon,
hesitated
to endorse
any measure
that
would
lead
to
closer
economic
relations
with
the
United
States.
A
sec-
ond
faction,
represented
by
Mitchell
Sharp, the
minister
of
trade
and
commerce,
reflected
more
traditional
liberal
views:
as
a
country
whose
prosperity
depended
on
international
commerce,
Canada
should
encourage
those developments
that
promised
to
reduce
tariffs
and
expand
trade.
In
late
1964, the debate
came
to
a
head.
In
accepting
proposals
for
a
closely
integrated
continental
automotive
industry,
Pearson's
cabinet confirmed
and strengthened
the
North
American
orientation
of
the
Canadian
economy.
The
autopact's
origins
lie
in
Canadian
efforts to
overcome
the
limi-
2
Figure
cited
in John
T.
Saywell,
ed,
Canadian
Annual
Review
for
1967
(Toronto:
Uni-
versity
of
Toronto
Press 1968),
336-8.
442
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL Summer
1998
To continue reading
Request your trial