President Obama has gone to Canada in search of answers about energy, where no easy loans will suffice. Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times reports that President Obama’s first foreign trip was focused most heavily upon energy and its impact on NAFTA.

First, there is the question of oil sands in Alberta, and how petroleum can be most easily extracted for use. The U.S. imports Canadian oil, and Prime Minister Harper wants to exempt the sands from regulation. This would speed extraction efforts, which environmentalists decry due to the what is left over. While no major agreement is expected, says Stolberg, it is assumed that they will agree to further research and share info on extraction techniques. Information loans easily.

Is “Buy American” a threat?

Regarding trade, Canada is worried about the new “Buy American” provision Congress put into the $787 billion economic recovery package. The concern is that it will be a barrier to free trade as defined in NAFTA, but President Obama is anxious to allay such fears. Obama, says Stolberg, will “stress drafting new environmental and labor protection side-agreements to the pact, and will emphasize the $1.5 billion-a-day trading relationship between the United States and Canada, the largest trading relationship in the world.”

Strong allies, easy loans

It has been traditional for a U.S. president’s first foreign trip to be to Canada, at least since the days of Ronald Reagan. Former President George W. Bush, however, bucked the trend and went to Mexico. This irritated Canada, so President Obama wanted to avoid any slight. Paul Cellucci, ambassador to Canada under Bush, said Obama “would be wise to strike a friendly tone,” as Canada is a strong ally.

“You don’t want to go down the road of a trade war, if we’re getting all this energy from Canada and it’s a reliable source of energy. It’s not Venezuela, it’s not the Middle East. Why would we want to jeopardize that?” asked Cellucci.

With a trade war, there would of course be no easy loans to be had from Canada, particularly when it comes to the development of the tremendous oil resource in those Alberta sands.

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