Ontario Premier Doug Ford will travel to Washington on Monday for high-level meetings with Biden administration officials and business leaders.
© Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Premier Doug Ford (file).
The trip, confirmed in a statement Sunday by the province, is described as a trade mission aimed at attracting more skilled workers to Ontario, while highlighting the damage caused by U.S. protectionist policies.
There’s never been a better time to invest in Ontario’s future for business“, according to Mr. Ford, as quoted in the statement of the government. As we work to attract more skilled workers and build the roads, highways, bridges and public transit infrastructure needed to move our economy forward, we will meet face-to-face with some of our closest partners to reaffirm the Ontario’s unparalleled economic potential.»
This will be Prime Minister Ford’s first visit to the United States since protesters blocked the Ambassador Bridge in WindsorOntario, disrupting the vital trade corridor for days and costing millions of dollars.
Mr. Ford will travel with Vic Fideli, Minister of Economic Development and Trade.
The official agenda includes meetings with Marisa Lago, the Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, and Daniel Watson, the Deputy U.S. Trade Representative for the Western Hemisphere.
The Prime Minister will also participate in a roundtable with members of the Canadian American Business Council.
Economic context
US President Joe Biden is aggressively pursuing policies like “ Buy American as a way to create new jobs and grow the economy. It was an important part of his State of the Union address and is a priority for the White House.
Joe Biden is particularly keen to increase production of electric vehicles in the United States, although legislation aimed at strengthening the sector has not garnered enough support in Congress.
The Canadian and Ontario governments are adamantly opposed to this policy, arguing that it would kill jobs in the Canadian auto sector.
U.S. customers would get thousands of dollars in tax breaks for buying a U.S.-made electric vehicle, even more if it’s built by unionized workers.
Canadian politicians have been lobbying US lawmakers to either rescind or amend the policy to include the Canadian workforce.
The trip also comes at a time when some U.S. lawmakers view Canada as an unreliable trading partner.
Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat from Michigan, took the protests that closed the Ambassador Bridge as an example of why the United States should rely less on its foreign trading partners.
It doesn’t matter if it’s an adversary or an ally, we can’t depend so much on parts from foreign countries“, she wrote on Twitter.
Canadian Commerce Minister Mary Ng regularly travels to Washington to try to deliver the same kind of reassuring message to U.S. trade officials and lawmakers.
With information from Katie Simpson
