US-Canada Free-Trade Agreement
The US-Canada Free Trade Agreement is an historic agreement that will yield major benefits for the US and Canadian economies, for US-Canadian bilateral trade relations, and for the international trade regime. The energy section of the Agreement is one of its most important. Energy trade between the US and Canada amounts to over $10 billion per year, the largest such bilateral trade in the world. Canada is our largest oil supplier and provides virtually all of our natural gas and electricity imports. While these volumes are a small fraction of US needs, they provide an important margin of energy security. Canada also is an important market for US energy exports, buying 16 million tons or $700 million worth of coal in 1987, 20% of US coal exports. The Free Trade Agreement ensures that the US and Canada can continued to enjoy unrestricted trade in energy, provides benefits to US consumers and producers, and enhances our energy security. The Agreement: prohibits future restrictions on energy trade, such as quantitative restriction, import or export taxes, and minimum prices; ensures that US consumers will be treated equitably with Canadian consumers; provides added assurance of supply in the event of disruptions; will lower costs to consumers, including our energy intensive industries, and help make US industry more competitive in world markets; will provide more certainty to producers and consumers, which should expand energy trade and be more conducive to energy investment; and will, over time, reduce US oil imports by encouraging continued market penetration of Canadian and US natural gas, and greater use of Canadian hydroelectric power.
- Research Organization:
- USDOE Office of the Deputy Secretary, Washington, DC
- OSTI ID:
- 5398520
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/S-0060; ON: DE88006946
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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