Obama to Head to Canada for First Trip Abroad As President

Barack Obama will seek to undo the damage caused by a George Bush snub when he visits Canada tomorrow, his first trip abroad since becoming president.

Bush upset many Canadians when he broke with the longstanding tradition of presidents making Canada their first stop-off and went instead to Mexico, part of a Republican campaign to woo Latino voters in the US.

Obama is to go to Ottawa for talks with the Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper, and the opposition leader, Michael Ignatieff.

David Biette, director of the Washington-based Canada Institute, said today Bush was not popular in Canada whereas Obama is and that will give Harper the leeway to have closer relations with the US.

But there are strains in the relationship with the Obama administration mainly over trade. Canadians are upset over what they see as protectionist measures in Obama's economic stimulus package and his campaign pledge to reopen talks on the North America Free Trade Agreement.

Obama, in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, hinted that he would put on hold renegotiation of the Nafta agreement given the parlous state of the world economy. Obama had been warned that if he attempted to renegotiate part of Nafta, the whole agreement would unravel.

On the campaign trail, Obama, responding to protests from Americans that Nafta was costing America jobs, promised to look at possible opt-outs from jobs and environmental parts of the agreement.

Obama backtracked in his CBC interview: "I think there are a lot of sensitivities right now because of the huge decline in world trade."

On Afghanistan, Canada, which has suffered a death toll of 108, is due to pull out in 2011. Obama is hoping to secure a promise that Canada will extend its mission but that would almost certainly require approval of the Canadian parliament.