Did you hear?… Canada: The Market Next Door

Canada: The Market Next Door. That’s the title of a seminar put on by the Maine International Trade Center in Bangor last week—a sort of primer for bureaucrats and economic developers interested in doing business with our closest neighbor. And why not? Despite its northerly position, Canada’s biz climate is tres sunny. The economy is ‘way open as import tariff rates have declined to less than one percent, the Canadian dollar has held steady against other world currencies, and presently, there’s less capital going out than coming in. There’s lots of elbow room for cyber sales–Canadians rank first worldwide in per capita net use–and transportation is cheap cheap cheap. Plenty of laudable environmental nuggets were also unearthed at this event, that make outdoor-loving companies feel positively fuzzy about trading over the longest undefended border in the world: Like Canada boasts the lowest cost of living of any of the G7 countries…and ranks highest among the G7 in terms of the level of impact the environment has in shaping national economic policy. Is there a connection here that us Yanks are missing? For basic background on Canada trade, including foreign policy, export/import controls, try http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/menu-e.asp. For info and service gateways for non-Canadians doing business, try http://Canada.gc.ca/main_e.html. (G7 Countries = U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Canada)