FACTBOX-Trade, environment dominate Obama visit to Canada

Feb 18 (Reuters) - Following are the main issues between Canada and the United States ahead of the one-day visit by President Barack Obama to Ottawa on Thursday:

TRADE

Two trade issues dominate: the "Buy American" clause in the $787 billion stimulus bill Obama signed on Tuesday, and his desire to reopen the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to strengthen labor and environmental provisions.

Canada sends 75 percent of its exports to the United States and remains deeply concerned by the "Buy American" clause but Obama said this week Canadians should not be too concerned and said Washington did not want to resort to "beggar thy neighbor" protectionism.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper intends to press home the necessity of avoiding protectionism.

"Our intent and our resolve is to see that there is no increase of that 'Buy America' act ... that's the territory that we'll be marking out and I'm sure the prime minister will be sharing some of those things with the president," Canadian Trade Minister Stockwell Day said on Sunday.

Obama had campaigned on reopening NAFTA and reiterated this goal in an interview on Tuesday, but said he realized that it was a sensitive time because of the fall in world trade.

Harper warned last year that it would be a mistake to reopen NAFTA and said that if it were reopened, Canada would bring its own issues to the table and use its position as the main U.S. energy supplier as a lever.

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT