FROM PAX-BRITANNICA TO PAX-AMERICANA AND BEYOND

Canada's increasingly diversified trade and investment pattern may eve ntually give the country more maneuverability in its foreign economic policy than it ever enjoyed during the eras of Pax Britannica and Pax Americana. From the conquest of New France until 1914, Canada's econom y was firmly within the imperial orbit, dependent upon Britain as a so urce of capital and as the largest buyer of its exports. The interwar years saw Britain vying with the United States to be Canada's largest trading and investment partner. Although Canadian and imperial prefere nces attempted to give Britain the edge, the Canadian government shift ed policy by entering trade agreements with the United States in 1935 and 1938. By 1939, Canada was clearly within Pax Americana, with the U nited States now the predominant foreign influence in the Canadian eco nomy. Since the 1960s, however, new factors have emerged to moderate A merican economic influence in Canada, including the decline of the tra ditional branch plant; the rapid growth of Canadian exports abroad, in cluding the sale of manufactured goods to the American market; and the rise of Canadian multinational enterprises with extensive influence i n the United States.