Liveblog: President Obama's Canadian press conference

By GottaLaff

--Prez O is saying he did not press Canada on Afghanistan, just said thank you for their engagement.

--Reconciling differences on greenhouse gases: It's a little too early to discuss this. The U.S. just started developing their approach, says Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Canada has had difficulty for decades getting a unified approach. But we're not that different, the targets are more or less the same. Prez O: This is a worldwide issue, will have an impact on all of us. It's a security issue, and we must show leadership in this area. There are no silver bullets to solve our energy problems. Sharing technology and ideas is important. Mexico is showing interest in this. We've suggested a cap and trade system, other countries have suggested a carbon tax.

--Wall St. Journal asking about NAFTA. Prez O is saying WST misquoted him. Now is a time we need to be very careful about any signals of protectionism... trade must be beneficial to all countries. With a NAFTA agreement that has labor/enviromental side agreements, we need to see that they need to be effectively enforced. Buy American provisions: I assured Harper we'd grow trade, not contract it. Nothing in the Recovery Package is adverse to that goal. Harper: NAFTA: Trade agreements between our two countries have only been beneficial to both. The challenges are common trade challenges, not problems between our two countries. We're willing to look at ways to address the concerns without unraveling a very complex agreement. I'm hopeful we can make progress. On Buy American: In WTO and NAFTA, there are ways to have domestic preferences and purchasing policies. We agreed to pursue economic stim measures to have a synchronize policies that will benefit our trading partners and ourselves.

--Canadian Press asked a bunch of questions: Prez O: I expect 4 years from now, the U.S./Canadian relationship will be even stronger. Increased trade. Integration of efforts on energy. I'm biased, I have a Canadian brother in law, two key staff from Canada. I love this country. Thickening of borders question: I'd like to see some planned stim spending used to ease border bottlenecks, even with security concerns. An open border. Auto industry question: We're deeply concerned about the N. American auto industry. Canada has helped us. GM/Chrysler report is being evaluated. There will need to be significant restructuring of that industry. We'll need to coordinate closely with the Canadian gov't. Stimulus question: Canada has put its own stim package in place. We're proud of our own Recovery Act, because it works short term and lays the groundwork for longterm growth, including wind energy, solar... We can get the economy moving again, and P.M. Harper is taking the same approach. We need to all take these steps in concert. Then we can slow the recessionary trends, and reverse them, and grow our economies again. We'll continue to coordinate closely.

Harper: Threats to the U.S. are threats to Canada. We have every incentive to be as cooperative and alarmed about threats as do the gov't. people of the U.S. We are concerned about the thickening of the border. The key is to look at how to deal with security without affecting commerce interaction. But we take security seriously, as does the U.S. Safest prediction: Today Canada and the U.S. are closer economically, socially, culturally, than any two friends on the face of the earth. In four years, we'll be in exactly the same spot. Now we take that closeness and friendship and continue to lead in the future, show how two countries can work together for mutual benefit. One of Obama's missions is to be more collaborative, and working with Canada, he can show how that model will operate.

Pres. Obama: We have no doubt about Canada's commitment to security. Harper is right: It's a safe bet that U.S. and Canada will continue to enjoy an extraordinary friendship, and the values we talk about (democracy, etc.) are values that the world can embrace. And thanks to the Canadians who campaigned for me. I'll come back as soon as it warms up [laughter].