maps of US-Canada trade

Former Dallas mayor, Ron Kirk, Obama’s nominee for US Trade Representative, had his Senate confirmation hearing yesterday. I went through the transcript today looking for clues about Obama’s trade agenda, which remains somewhat fuzzy.

“We seek to restore and build new bipartisan support for a progressive trade agenda for America.” Kirk told the senators. He also said, “I don’t come to this job with deal fever, and we’re not going to do deals just for the sake of doing so.”

Note to Michael Wilson: When he was asked about how he will build support for trade agreements among the US middle class, Kirk mentioned his plan to improve his office’s web site. Perhaps a phone call to Kirk’s head web geek could  solicit a link to these fact sheets put together by the Canadian Embassy that show state by state how many jobs are supported by trade with Canada. How many people know that 35 US states have Canada as their leading export market? Check out this cool map.

The WaPo’s take on Kirk’s testimony was: U.S. to Toughen Its Stance on Trade

Meanwhile, here are a few excerpts that relate to Canada, Nafta, softwood lumber and trade in general:

Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana): “The United States has a softwood lumber agreement with Canada that needs to be enforced. What steps will you take to make sure Canada is complying with its obligations?”