	talks show new canadian confidence group says canada s decision to raise the issue of a free  pact with the u s was a sign of what many see as a new spirit of canadian self confidence a public policy study group said it suggests the canada of the immediate post war period when it was a major player in the process of building a postwar world the washington based atlantic council said u s and canadian negotiators opened talks last summer aimed at dismantling  barriers between the two countries the world s biggest trading partners with crossborder shipments of about billion dlrs annually the council s study said the  talks with a deadline of october for an agreement are the biggest issue in u s canadian relations the study said liberalized  between the two countries would improve the competitiveness of their economies in world markets and lessen  irritants which now mar their ties the council said in the past most canadians have shied away from the notion of a free  arrangement fearing to be overwhelmed economically and politically by a closer association with a country times their size in population but at the same time it added canadians realized their domestic market was too small to permit the mass production and sales needed to raise productivity to the level demanded by an increasingly competitive world the council said that in the talks canada is chiefly interested in minimizing the imposing of u s duties against allegedly subsidized exports a recent example was the per cent duty the u s imposed on canadian lumber exports on grounds the shipments were being subsidized the council said the chief u s concerns included ending curbs against u s banking insurance telecommunications and the so called cultural industries publishing broadcasting and films it said other major u s canadian issues were defense cooperation acid rain and the u s rejection of a canadian assertion of sovereignty over waters of the northwest passage reuter 
