The New - 20/20 Magazine

Making a great
relationship even better
By DAVID JACOBSON,
US AMBASSADOr TO CANADA
the us and canada enjoy
a unique economic
partnership. our two nations
share the world’s largest and most
comprehensive trading relationship with
more than $1.3 billion of two-way trade
crossing the border every day.
trade is a critical part of our prosperity;
it supports millions of jobs in each
country and helps to maintain the way of
life and improve the standards of living
for millions of americans and canadians.
a relationship this important cannot
be taken for granted. it must be
examined and renewed continually.
From time to time the relationship will
face challenges, but working together to
resolve these challenges will only serve
to strengthen the relationship in the end.
the recent global economic crisis
presented challenges for all of us.
During difficult times it is natural to look
inward. such was the case with Buy
American provisions for us stimulus
spending. However, it is a testament to
the strength of our relationship, that our
two countries came together to create
an agreement that creates more open
cross-border government procurement
with expanded market access
opportunities for suppliers of goods and
services on both sides of the border
now and in the future.
a strong relationship is also built on
forward thinking and innovation. two
areas that i find very exciting are finding
ways to bring more companies into the
trading world and expanding the north
american economy through innovation.
on march 11, 2010, president obama
announced the national export initiative
(nei). the nei is a plan to better assist
american businesses that want to sell
their goods and services abroad. the
nei is important to canada because
as the us exports more, it also imports
more. not only does this grow the
amount of total trade between our two
countries but, as new businesses enter
the trade arena, they also join cross
border supply chains which provide a
range of new opportunities for canadian
buyers and sellers. the nei will grow
the north american economy, which
will mean canadians and americans
will benefit.
as neighbours, we are each other’s
logical first markets for first time
exporters, many of which are small
and medium-sized businesses. we
want these businesses on both sides
of the border to flourish. leaders
in both of our countries have been
concerned about manufacturing jobs
disappearing overseas.
president obama has said that he
expects our commitment to clean
energy to create more than 800,000
jobs by 2012. that’s not just creating
work in the short term, that’s going
to help lay the foundation for lasting
economic growth.
one of the most important aspects
of keeping our economies strong and
competitive in a changing world is
innovation.
both the us and canada have been
world leaders in innovation and we don’t
want to lose ground by not investing in
the creation of new knowledge and not
protecting the knowledge that we are
already creating.
Joint programs focused on
reinvigorating the auto sector and
developing green, sustainable energy
are both important contributors to new
knowledge.
meanwhile, in order to protect our
knowledge products and to keep our
best minds from relocating elsewhere it
Both the US and Canada have been world leaders in
innovation and we don’t want to lose ground by not
investing in the creation of new knowledge and not
protecting the knowledge that we are already creating.
is important to have a strong intellectual
property (ip) regime.
this includes not only strong laws for
the protection of copyright and other
forms of ip, but also the resources to
enforce these laws.
i am very encouraged by the steps
that canada and the us have taken
together during difficult economic times
and am excited by the opportunities
that are now before us to make a great
economic relationship even better.
CANADIAN MANUfACTUrErS & ExPOrTErS’ MAgAzINE | 27