Economy Tops Agenda as Obama Visits Canada

JIM LEHRER:

President Obama journeyed out of the country today for his first time since taking office. He went north to Canada for talks on the economy, trade, the environment, and Afghanistan.

Kwame Holman has our lead story report.

KWAME HOLMAN:

Mr. Obama arrived in Ottawa late this morning, honoring a tradition that new U.S. presidents travel first to Canada. The Canadian governor general, Michaelle Jean, was on hand to meet him.

And a crowd of about a thousand watched as the president's motorcade pulled up on Parliament Hill. There, he greeted Prime Minister Stephen Harper and drew a huge cheer when he stepped out to wave to the public.

The prime minister and the president held private talks and a working lunch.

STEPHEN HARPER, Prime Minister of Canada: Today, Canada and the United States are closer economically, socially, culturally, in terms of our international partnerships, than any two nations on the face of the Earth, closer friends than any two nations on the face of the Earth.

KWAME HOLMAN:

The two countries' economies also are heavily intertwined, and both are mired in recessions. Canada lost a record 129,000 jobs last month, raising the unemployment rate to a four-year high of 7.2 percent.

And today, the U.S. Labor Department announced nearly 5 million Americans are on unemployment benefits, a record high.

BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States: We know that the financial crisis is global, and so our response must be global.