This month, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump met in Washington and held a joint press conference after their meeting.
It was expressed by both that the close relationship between Canada and the United States remains strong and that it was based on a long partnership of the two countries. This relationship was based on common interests and a long-standing alliance in several world wars. They also acknowledged that millions of good middle class jobs depend on that relationship.
The meeting was very important for both countries as President Trump had announced that the NAFTA agreement (between the U.S. Canada and Mexico) would be renegotiated since the U.S. had lost many manufacturing jobs, under this trade agreement, which greatly favored Mexico.
Prime Minister Trudeau, while in Washington, also held two additional meetings, one with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, and the other with Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell.
Canada and the United States share the largest trading relationship in the world. Bilateral trade between the two countries was valued at over $885 billion in 2015, and Canada is the largest secure supplier of energy to the U.S.
The successful meeting of these two leaders was important for Florida where in 2015, there were over 315 Canadian-owned companies operating in the State. These companies were responsible for over 42,700 jobs throughout the State of Florida. Canadian companies are clearly major contributors to Florida’s economy. 620,200 Florida jobs depend on trade and investment with Canada.
The impact of Canadian tourism to Florida is also very important as there were 4,260,200 visits by Canadians to Florida in 2015. This represented spending of $5.1 billion spent by Canadians vacationing in Florida.
It does not hurt the fact that Canadians are so important to Florida and that President Trump has his winter home in Florida where he spends many week-ends enjoying the Florida winter weather.
The trade figures in 2015 were that Florida exported $3.9 billion to Canada while Canada imported $ 4.2 billion from Florida.
It is encouraging that both leaders had a successful meeting at the beginning of the Trump administration and that the United States acknowledged the special relationship with Canada.
