Border Business
Jayson Myers, president of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, says Canada and Minnesota's $9.5 billion of annual two-way trade could be even larger with development of common quality standards and regulations.
"Don't forget Canada" was the message Jayson Myers brought to a Canada-Minnesota Business Council luncheon event in late November. Myers is President of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, Canada's largest trade and industry association. CME was formed in 1996, when
more than two-thirds of Canada's manufactured goods were being exported, half to U.S. markets.
"We need to develop a strategy for making sure that this is an efficient marketplace, that we [Canada and the United States] can work in supply chains and lower the cost of doing business," Myers said.
With 157,000 Minnesota jobs dependent on doing business with Canada, and $9.5 billion of annual two-way trade, Canada and Minnesota enjoy a highly integrated supply chain network. Myers emphasized the need for a streamlined customs inspection process for products that are made
within these supply chains, and cited the relative ease of product movement between Asia and the U.S.
"Probably 95 percent or more of the products crossing our borders are trusted products. So why then are we piling more and more compliance and information requirements on the trusted, low-cost traffic and thinking that somehow we're managing risks better? ... If you try to
test and inspect everything, you miss the ability to actually identify what is highrisk and what is low-risk."
Myers also advocated for the development of common quality standards, and mutual recognition of existing quality standards between Canada and the U.S.
"Where regulators are all hard at work coming up with new regulations, it seems to be that we're missing a tremendous opportunity to work together here to come up with common standards and common regulations. Unless we do that, it's going to be more and more costly to do
business across the Canada-U.S. border. ... If we look at opportunities together, we can develop a strategy for making sure that this is an efficient marketplace."
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