Upon his return to Washington, Shultz briefed Reagan on his talks with Clark. “With only a month in office,” the Secretary of State wrote, “Mulroney’s government is still putting together its foreign and domestic policies. It seems clear, however, that certain themes will character the Canadians’ new approach to us… Clark repeated several times Mulroney’s promise to you to give the U.S. ‘the benefit of the doubt,’ on international issues. In our private exchanges, Clark carried this assertion one step further by assurances of explicit support for us on East-West and disarmament questions. Canada will no longer play the ‘middleman’ role between East and West Pierre Trudeau ascribed to himself and his government.”

Shultz also reported to Reagan on a bilaterial environmental issue then high on the Canada-U.S. agenda, acid rain. “Clark made clear that a massive cleanup program has bipartisan support in Canada. I reminded him that we too have an acid rain problem, but we are not persuaded that an expensive abatement program offers the best solution.”

The Secretary of State then concluded his report to President Reagan. “All in all, I left this meeting convinced that your policy of paying more attention to Canada is returning real dividends,” he wrote. “We can chalk this up as a promising foreign policy accomplishment of your first term in office.”