A Cooperative Disagreement demonstrates how Canada and the United States successfully kept divergent policies on revolutionary Cuba from damaging their bilateral relationship. Covering the period from 1959 to the end of the Cold War, John Dirks investigates efforts at the senior and working levels of Canada-US diplomacy and bureaucracy to find mutually advantageous ways of cooperating despite their respective approaches to Cuba. When Washington sought the downfall of the communist regime through political isolation and economic strangulation. Canada had deep commercial ties with Cuba and chose engagement instead. These differences in policy created the potential for significant friction, but the burden fell on Canada, as the smaller power, to initiate mitigation strategies. Ultimately, these two North American powers continued to adhere to the hard policy boundaries set by their own governments while establishing a mutually beneficial relationship on issues of intelligence, travel, and other areas of engagement with Cuba. Drawing on archival documents from both sides of the border, many newly declassified, this comprehensive study reveals how officials in Ottawa and Washington managed to preserve bilateral harmony despite ongoing policy divergence.