The New - 20/20 Magazine

TRADE, INVESTIMENT AND THE PURSUIT OF PROSPERITY
to stand by that investment and find
ways to work more efficiently together,”
said christopher sands of the Hudson
institute, a washington think-tank.
sands is an expert on canada-us
economic and political ties.
“For instance, as we have increased
connections between our economies,
our governance structure for regulating
and inspecting trade flows has not
kept up. in some areas, we need more
due diligence; in other areas, we have
duplicative crash testing of cars, of
drugs, etc., and there is a cost to
all of this.”
sands believes that canadian firms,
with all the contacts they maintain with
american colleagues, are in a strong
“Throughout my career, America has seen so
much economic growth that it was easy to take it
as a given. We prospered from the productivity of
the information age. But, we started to forget the
fundamentals and lost sight of the core competencies
of a successful modern economy. Many bought into
the idea that America could go from a technologybased,
export-oriented powerhouse to a services-led,
consumption-based economy — and somehow still
expect to prosper.
“That idea was flat wrong. And what did we get in
the bargain? We’ve seen a great vanishing of wealth.
Our competitive edge has slipped away, and this has
hit the middle class hard…”
22 | www.2020MAgAzINE.CA
“If there is a silver lining to the global
recession, it’s that manufacturers in the US
and Canada can use this as an opportunity
to work together even more closely.”
position to initiate discussions on
ways to reduce compliance costs. “in
good times,” he notes, “these costs
are not seen as a big deal. but right
now, these costs represent a drag on
north american productivity, and this
is a good time to look at how common
standards can reduce costs. common
standards will help strengthen our
shared global export success.”
effect #3 — Discussions on how
to increase canada-us regional
cooperation on manufacturing are
assuming greater importance.
“i am a passionate optimist,” said
emily stover Derocco, president of the
manufacturing institute in washington,
Dc, and senior vice president of the
national association of manufacturers.
“if there is a silver lining to the global
recession, it’s that manufacturers in
the us and canada can use this as an
opportunity to work together even more
closely. we have the relationships in the
[ continued on page 24 ]
“We must make a serious commitment to
manufacturing and exports. This is a national
imperative. We all know that the American
consumer cannot lead our recovery. This economy
must be driven by business investment and exports.
“We should set a national goal to create high
value added jobs and have manufacturing jobs
be no less than 20 per cent of total employment,
about twice what it is today. And we should
commit ourselves to compete and win with
American exports…”
Jeffrey R. Immelt,
Chairman and CEO of GE,
speaking to the Detroit Economic
Club on June 26, 2009