Bush Has First Meeting With a World Leader
W A S H I N G T O N, Feb. 5, 2001 -- President Bush took his first foreign policy step today with an informal dinner with Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, who has not said whether he supports the missiledefense system Bush intends to build.
Missile defense loomed large among the issues between Bush andChretien, as did oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National WildlifeRefuge, which is criticized in Canada on environmental grounds.
The meeting with Chretien was Bush's first face-to-face sessionwith a world leader since taking office Jan. 20. It was arrangedafter Bush said he would visit Mexico, not Canada, in his firstforeign trip later this month, abandoning the practice of his threemost recent predecessors.
As a curtain raiser for that trip, the White House planned aweeklong focus next week on Bush's national security agenda.
One Big Family
The White House cast the visit by Chretien as upbeat and devoid of sore feelings about the friendly overture to Mexico. "Frankly, all our discussions with theCanadians have been nothing but positive," said press secretaryAri Fleischer.
In a speech before the Organization of American States, Chretien said he views relations with all American nations, including the United States and Mexico, as that of "una gran familia" — one big family — that is "secure in our unique identity and sovereignty."
"Canadians felt that our national journey was taking a different path than that of the Americas," Chretien said. "Those days are gone, forever."
Canadians have not ignored the fact that Bush made a congratulatory call to Mexican President Vicente Fox when Fox was inaugurated last year. Nor have they overlooked the chummy nature of the Feb. 16 Bush-Fox meeting, to be held on Fox's ranch, orSecretary of State Colin Powell's comment that the Mexico trip wasevidence of "the special place Mexico holds in our national priorities."
The personal vibe between Bush and Chretien will be closely watched too. It was widely known in Canada that Chretien, who had a warm relationship with former President Clinton, would have preferred to work with defeated Democrat Al Gore, and thatChretien's conservative predecessor, Brian Mulroney, has maintainedties with Bush's father, the former president.
The informal agenda for the Bush-Chretien meeting included a range of border issues, the Summit of the Americas conference to be held in Quebec in April, and trade. U.S.-Canadian trade totals $1.3 billion a day or nearly $500 billion a year, about twice thecombined trade with Mexico.
Russia, China and most NATO allies have objected to the missiledefense system, which Bush said he wants as a means of protectingthe United States against accidental missile launches or an attackfrom a rogue nation. Bush is plowing ahead despite thoseobjections.
"He believes it's a very effective way to protect America andour allies," Fleischer said.
No Changes Predicted on the Foreign Front
Bush called for drilling in the Arctic refuge, noting that it might hold about 11 billion barrels of oil, about as much as the Prudhoe Bay field 50 miles to the west. Environmentalists say developing the oil would jeopardize the coastal plain's wildlife,including 130 species of migrating birds; thousands of porcupinecaribou that give birth to their young in the summer; and polarbears, musk oxen and grizzly bears.
Matt Hoffman, a University of Delaware political scientist, predicted Bush would be unlikely to push sweeping changes in his early foreign policy meetings.
"It is unreasonable to come in and start making breakpoint changes," Hoffman said. "That upsets our allies. It upsets our enemies, for lack of a better word. I think President Bushunderstands that."
Outside of his talks with Chretien, Bush also kept up the calls to foreign leaders he's been making since he took office. He spent five minutes on the phone Monday with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo to pledge his support for democratic rule and economicdevelopment in the oil-rich African nation.