Canadian Uranium and the US Market

Abstract

Canada and the United States are each others' largest trading partners. Across the longest undefended border in the world, each nation has invested over thi1ty billion dollars in its neighbor's economy. Trade in the energy sector is a major part of this relationship. For the last several years, Canada has produced far more uranium than any other region in the world. Since free trade in uranium has been in effect in the USA, Canada's role as a supplier to the USA has increased substantially, and the USA currently imports more uranium from Canada than from any other nation. In recent years, however, renewed attempts to protect the US uranium production sector have threatened to restrict or eliminate Canadian uranium sales to the USA, representing a threat to as much as one-third of Canada's uranium export market. These events have resulted in confusion among US utilities as to procurement decisions, and, depending upon the outcome of these political factors, could have a serious impact on sales and the price of Canadian-origin uranium over the next decade.