By John Devine
Special to Ontario Construction News
Premier Doug Ford will have some company when he visits Washington D.C. this weekend for trade talks with American counterparts. Four other premiers and deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland also headed south to talk trade.
In addition to Freeland and Ford, Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe, chair of the Council of the Federation, New Brunswick’s Blaine Higgs, Quebec’s François Legault, and Alberta’s Jason Kenney attended the winter meeting of the National Governors Association. Discussions focused on removing trade barriers, strengthening economic ties, and creating jobs. Business leaders will join them in roundtable sessions aimed at showcasing Ontario as an investment destination.
Challenging Buy American polices was at the top of Ford’s agenda.
“Buy American policies hurt workers on both sides of the border, and that is the message I will be bringing to my colleagues in Washington. By strengthening economic ties and making it easier for businesses to work together, our government will help create opportunities for Ontario businesses to bring their products and their expertise to markets in the United States,” the premier said.
At a recent 360° Economic Summit in Toronto, Ford addressed the need to resolve trade issues, particularly with American states.
“We are at the crossroads of trade from all over the world here in Ontario, including our largest trading partner, the United States. In fact, we do $390 billion in two-way trade with the United States. We are the number one trading partner of 19 states, and the number two trading partner to nine other states. If Ontario was a stand-alone country … we would be America’s third largest trading partner,” he said at the summit.
“We are fortunate to be home to five of the world’s major auto manufacturers. Our auto supply chains are highly integrated with our neighbours to the south. If you think about it … an auto part can cross the border as many as eight times before making it to the end of the production line. And that’s why keeping our trade ties strong is a key priority for our government.”
Keeping the trade relationship strong is vital to both countries, the premier said, pointing out that one in five Canadian and nine million American jobs depend on two-way trade. He said the new trade agreement signed this week in Washington will provide much needed certainty to Ontario and Canadian businesses, and he urged federal parties to work together to get the agreement signed as soon as possible.
While in Washington, Ford said he will be unveiling Ontario’s new U.S. trade strategy.
“We are in talks with Ohio to move forward with a new ground-breaking approach to trade with U.S. partners. We are looking to improve market access and procurement opportunities for Ontario and Ohio businesses. It’s an approach that will enable us to address the challenges we face with damaging Buy American policies,” he said.
“We can’t afford to stand by and wait, we are taking action because Buy American policies are hurting Ontario businesses and workers. We have been working with the federal government to ensure Canada is exempt from (those) provisions … and now (we have) a made-in-Ontario solution that enables us to stand up for Ontario workers and businesses.”
He continued that’s Ontario’s commitment to invest $144 billion in infrastructure over the next decade will have countries from all over the world seeking bidding access to those projects.
“Make no mistake about it, we are a massive, massive economic machine right here in North America,” he told the summit.
In April, Ford and Laurie Scott, Minister of Infrastructure, plan to receive an NGA Infrastructure Study Tour to Toronto, which will study best practices on modernizing infrastructure and explore infrastructure opportunities on both sides of the border.
Quick facts about two-way trade:
• The Ontario and U.S. automotive sectors are very strongly integrated. Ontario is the largest export market for both American assembled vehicles and vehicle parts. In 2018, Ontario-U.S. two-way automotive trade was CAD$134 billion
- Ontario is North America’s second largest financial services hub after New York City in terms of industry employment. Major financial institutions and insurance companies have significant operations on both sides of the border
- The U.S. and Ontario steel sectors and manufacturing supply chains are highly integrated. The U.S. accounted for 95 per cent (CAD$5.8 billion) of Ontario steel exports, while imports from the U.S. totaled CAD$4.7 billion in 2018
- About 80 per cent of Ontario chemicals exports go to the U.S., and a large portion of chemical manufacturers have connected operations across both jurisdictions.