The need for China to allow more U.S. goods :

The Canadian economy saw the biggest drop in its manufacturing employment in 15 years in January, but other areas of employment are still solidly intact with respectable increases in new jobs, and Canada's trade with the rest of the world (exports and imports) soared to record levels in 2005. Exporters seem to be coping quite well with a higher Canadian dollar, and exports do not seem to be adversely affected.

The Bank of Canada will more than likely go through with two 25-basis-point increases this spring, seeing the overnight target rate rising to 4.0%. We could even see two more in the fall. On the U.S. side of things, their deficit with China has tripled since President Bush took office five years ago. As a matter of fact, the States has also racked up a record trade deficit with Canada and its other major trading partners.

It's not surprising then that there is a surge of calls for curbs (read, protectionism) on Chinese imports, substantial changes in the yuan-U.S. dollar exchange rate, and the need for China to allow more U.S. goods into its country. That said, the U.S. economy has grown significantly, more so than the rest of the world. Although this situation seems to be slowly reversing. It's not only Chinese imports that added to the record trade bill last year for the U.S. They imported record amounts of crude oil in 2005.

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-Peter R. Bain