<P> Because English is the majority language in both countries, and accents and dialects on both sides of the border are (relatively) similar and being a variety of North American English (as compared to the British or Australian English), both high culture and mass media are easily traded . Granted, both countries have minority - language media--Canada's large francophone population and the United States' large hispanophone population--as well as immigrants and indigenous language speakers, but cultural trade mostly concerns English - language media . </P> <P> The major difference is that the U.S. media market is more than 15 times larger, meaning that the Americans enjoy greater economies of scale . Historically, this has always been the case since the 19th century, when Canada was flooded with American books, but the beginning of Canada's cultural protectionism dates to the 1920s, when Canada's radio market was dominated by American broadcasts, leading cultural nationalist s to form the Canadian Radio League, which lobbied for a publicly funded broadcaster to compete with U.S. stations . In the 1950s, television experienced a similar dispute, with Canadian stations airing U.S. programming and U.S. stations broadcasting into Canada, leading to the creation of CBC Television . Since the 1970s, Canadian radio and television stations have been required by law to air a minimum percentage of Canadian content . </P> <P> One source of tension is a difference in philosophy: the Canadian position is that its culture is a prerequisite for safeguarding its nationhood and should thus be excluded from free trade agreements, whereas Americans negotiators see media as just another commodity . This difference came to light during the dispute over "split - run" magazine during the 1990s . Split - runs are magazines produce a slightly modified edition (say, for a Canadian market) and resell much of the advertising space to Canadian advertisers . Canadian publishers argued that the Americans were poaching all their advertising revenue without producing substantial Canadian content . American publishers and the U.S. government countered that banning "split - runs" was illegal under international trade law . There have also been disputes over the generous tax credits that the Canadian federal and provincial governments give to television and film productions . This, combined with a weaker Canadian dollar caused American filmmakers to complain during the 1990s that "runaway productions" were hurting American employment in the film industry, especially in California . </P>

What goods does the us trade with canada