Muirhead agrees that any government must work to maximize national income and independent choice. He shows that Canada actively pursued a policy of multilateralism and non-discrimination as epitomized by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. In addition, the government tried unsuccessfully to resurrect commercial ties with the United Kingdom, its largest pre-war overseas market. Muirhead finds that in both these efforts Canada was thwarted by postwar realities that hindered its exploitation of markets in Britain and Western Europe. The United States remained the only market able and willing to absorb the billions of dollars of Canadian exports on which Canada's prosperity depended.

The first section of this report identifies and discusses the range of policies that governments can implement to directly or indirectly influence inward foreign direct investment (FDI), as well as the behaviour of multinational companies in the host market. The following section sets out public policy criteria against which to evaluate the consequences of Canadian government policies toward inward FDI. The next section reviews the determinants of inward FDI, drawing upon the existing economic and international business literature. The subsequent two sections contain a broad overview of inward FDI patterns to Canada over the post-war period, with preliminary inferences about the influence of public policies on inward FDI flows, and discuss significant policy initiatives directed at influencing either the quantity of quality of inward FDI. These include the Foreign Investment Review Act, the Investment Canada Act, and the North American Free Trade Agreement. This is followed by a section that identifies Canadian government policies directed at restricting inward FDI at the sectoral level (financial services, oil and gas, communications). Welfare economics arguments for and against sectoral foreign ownership restrictions are considered. Original economic models of FDI for Canada are then discussed and case studies are presented of the consequences of foreign ownership and the impacts of foreign ownership policies on the three sectors mentioned above. The final section concludes the report with a summary and a set of policy recommendations.

This study examines from an American perspective the impact of the free trade agreement (FTA) on the evolution of the Canada-United States economic relationship. It puts into historical context the special trading relationship between Canada and the United States which prevailed over the early postwar period. It examines how FTA rules and dispute settlement procedures create an effective basis for managing bilateral economic relationships in the context of more decentralized policy processes. It also explores the potential impact on the bilateral trading regime of the changing nature of international competition, the adjustments taking place in the structure of the Canadian and American economies, and the challenges posed by continuing technological change.