CANADA: Self-interest Appeal

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Canada's Ambassador to Washington, Arnold Heeney, last week tried a new approach to win support for lower U.S. tariffs and fewer restrictions on Canadian exports. Speaking to a convention of the Investment Bankers Association of Amer ica at Hollywood, Fla., Heeney passed lightly over Canada's case for increased trade, instead stressed the self-interest of U.S. investors in Canada's prosperity. "Whether or not Americans realize it," he said, "they have acquired an important stake in Canada's foreign trade."

The U.S. investment stake in Canada now amounts to more than $9 billion, Heeney pointed out, and most of this money is invested in resource industries (e.g., mines, oil wells, timber), which depend heavily on U.S. sales. "I need hardly point out that all these commodities enter very substantially into our foreign trade," Heeney told the bankers. "For that reason, those of you who have invested in Canada have a common interest with Canadians. The dollars you have sent across the border will be able to do their work only if Canada can continue to trade freely with the United States."