US and Canada...Bestfriends?
Learn about some similarities between these countries.
The Closest Countries
This 5,525 mile border is the longest international border in the entire world! This border is one the main reasons the US and Canada have such a great relationship.
Trading
The US is Canada's biggest international investor, making them our top trading partner.
Meant To Be
The US and Canada have to work closely on many international issues due to them being neighbors. So they had to learn to fit together or work together.
Economic
The US and Canada share the largest trading network in the world. They trade almost everything including: energy, services, manufacturing and natural resources. Most of the investments the US makes in Canada is its natural resources that we use for energy. However Canada's main investments in the US are service based. NAFTA or the North American Free Trade Agreement is the agreement made between the US and Canada plus Mexico that encourages trading between the countries. The reason that the US and Canada trade so much is because they are close together thus making it cheaper and more efficient.
Social
The US and Canada share many social factors such as language, culture, ethnicity and of course travel. Travel between the two countries plays a large role in their similarities because the movement of ideas is spread faster this way. Residents of both countries have been traveling back and forth for about two and a half centuries. Today about 300,000 people cross the international border everyday. The main language of the countries also plays a large role in the social patterns of the neighboring countries. The US's main language is english, and in Canada they speak mostly english also but they also speak a lot of french. Thanks to them sharing a common language it allows for communication between the countries easier and more efficient.
Political
Even though the US and Canada have different types of government (the US has a presidential constitutional republic and Canada has a parliamentary constitutional monarchy) they are constantly working together. In the US the head of state and the head of government are the same person: the president. And in Canada the head of state is the Queen and the head of government is the elected Prime Minister. However these political differences do not stop the countries from working together to keep their citizens safe. Since they share the longest International border in the world they have many agreements to keep the peace between them.