■"Canada Warns That Tariffs on Lumber Could Imperil U.S. Access to Oil," by Clifford Krauss, New York Times, 12 October 2005, p. A5.
We owe Canada $5 billion in wrongly assessed tariffs, says a NAFTA panel, but we're not paying.
So Canada's resource minister says, "If NAFTA is called into question by U.S. action,it calls for us to diversify our trade and investment relations."
If that wasn't clear enough, Canada's guy gets on a plane to China, noting on his way that, "On the Chinese side, I am sure there will be receptivity."
Oh yeah, Canada's ready to lock in China at today's prices. When Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Canada last month, he spoke of "strategic partnerhship."
"Got China?"
Apparently Canada's gonna get some . . .
Right now Canada basically sends all its oil to the U.S., but China's investing already in the oil sands and a pipeline to carry the product to the Pacific coast.
Wanna say goodbye really fast to 8 percent of our total oil imports?
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See also: Crude Oil and Total Petroleum Imports Top 15 Countries from the Energy Information Administration at Department of Energy
Total Imports of Petroleum (Top 15 Countries)
(Thousand Barrels per Day)
CANADA (#1)
Jul-05 = 2,079
Jun-05 = 2,155
YTD 2005 = 2,121
Jul-04 = 2,178
Jan - July 2004 = 2,146