Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 044-017
Date: Thursday, March 22, 1973 at 4:02 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Rogers, William P.
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/044-017

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] Secretary Rogers, sir.
[0:03] Yeah, okay.
[0:04] Hello?
[0:05] Bill, I just talked to Trudeau on the phone, and it was a long, rather interesting conversation.
[0:14] I suppose it was a good idea.
[0:15] He said they were going to have a meeting tomorrow.
[0:18] He said he didn't know whether they could carry the house on it.
[0:21] That's their problem.
[0:22] They're going to talk to his cabinet about it.
[0:24] made all the arguments, told him the letter was on its road.
[0:27] Of course, all the points I covered went far beyond the letter.
[0:33] And then he finally said, well, I said, suppose we could have a backup position that they could stay on, not indefinitely, but for several months.
[0:42] I said, well, that would sure be a lot better than getting off.
[0:46] And I left the impression, which I think makes some sense with him, is that
[0:51] if they got off, that even though it might not be fair, that it would appear that Canada's failure to serve was the primary reason why it blew up.
[1:00] And he said that Sharp would be in touch with you tomorrow with regard to what their decision was.
[1:08] I feel quite sure that Sharpe will make the recommendation they stay on.
[1:14] Stay on?
[1:14] Yeah, for a reasonable length of time.
[1:16] Yeah.
[1:17] Well, I was thinking that even if they stay for several months, that's not too bad, is it?
[1:20] Oh, no.
[1:21] I mean, just so they don't get off now.
[1:23] That's right.
[1:23] Yeah.
[1:24] Well, I think this was very important.
[1:25] So I did, and I was thinking that you, I also told him incidentally, he said he heard I'd made a speech today about
[1:31] and mentioned Canada about trade relations, which I suppose is one of our statements to the Congress.
[1:36] And I just, George Shultz just came in.
[1:37] So I have told him that I was going to discuss at length their views with Shultz, which I have now done.
[1:44] And so, and then George, of course, he wanted his print quoco, print quoco.
[1:50] So, but if you could give, I think if you could even follow up with Sharp with a call tonight, if you think well of it.
[1:57] So I had this talk with the prime minister and then I, I think it's, I didn't, uh,
[2:01] The letter is almost pro-pharma.
[2:04] He hoped it would be up there today.
[2:05] And I said, sure, it'll be up there.
[2:07] But it didn't say hardly anything.
[2:09] So I went into the Canadians and the, I mean, to the Hungarians and the Poles and the Chinese and the Russians and DRV and the GVN and told them we were going to work on them all.
[2:17] But, you know.
[2:18] That's good.
[2:20] That's it.
[2:20] Okay.
[2:21] Well, thanks very much, Mr. Mayor.
[2:22] That's very helpful.
[2:23] I appreciate it.
[2:25] Bye.