"A generation of Canadian historians has viewed the mid-twentieth century as an era when Canada gave ground to the United States in most areas of foreign trade policy. In Dancing around the Elephant, Bruce Muirhead disputes this view." "Drawing on extensive archival research, Muirhead notes a number of cases, such as the Auto Pact, where Canadian policy makers actually got the better of their American counterparts, and examines contextual reasons for the pessimistic view of Canada's economic position and the hostile reactions to American dominance: the rise of Canadian nationalism, the growth of anti-Americanism (based largely on the American role in Vietnam), and the election of Pierre Elliott Trudeau as prime minister in 1968. Muirhead also dispels the myth that the poor relationship between Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and President John F. Kennedy served to wreak havoc on Canadian-American relations, clearly demonstrating its lack of effect on trade patterns."--BOOK JACKET