It’s a question for Canadian businesses, what do the United States Election results mean for us?
One guy who might know is Derek Burney, an Order of Canada recipient and former Canadian ambassador to the United States between 1989 and 1993.
Burney says the bottom line is there are only a handful of states that don’t list Canada as their top trading partner.
“Very few Americans know that, and that’s a message we have to keep reminding them about because they underestimate the significance of the volume that’s traded with Canada,” says Burney. “I don’t sense there will be a big shift until we know what elements of [President-Elect] Joe Biden’s domestic platform he actually intends to implement and whether he can get them implemented.”
Burney also served as a political strategist for both the government under Brian Mulroney and Stephen Harper.
Burney notes a potential Buy America provision that might hurt Canadian businesses.
“[It’s a] $500 billion goodie package for American industry that we have to be extremely careful about ensure isn’t fully implemented without a fight,” adds Burney. “We’ve had Buy Canadian campaigns from both provincial and federal governments but I don’t recall any of them carrying the heft of $500 billion of government money being invested to make those purchases. Encouraging Canadian consumers to buy Canadian products is perfectly legitimate as far as I’m concerned. The trick is when you start using government money to produce goods exclusively for American consumers and governments.”
Burney says as important as our relationship is with the United States, businesses should also be looking to get into the Asia markets thanks to the efforts made in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
“We’re way behind in taking advantage of what access was negotiated for us. We should be much more aggressive going beyond North America,” stresses Burney.
