Found this editorial while looking for something else. Should be required reading for "Remedial Borg 101" class. (emphasis in bold is mine)
Forum editorial: Canadian trade vital for North Dakota
The president’s visit to Canada today is an opportunity to remind North Dakotans – and Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D. – of the importance of the state’s trade relationship with our friendly neighbor to the north.
President Barack Obama restored a tradition that was broken by President George W. Bush. Bush made Mexico his first foreign visit in 2005, to the consternation of Canadians.
Obama, who has suggested trade agreements with Canada might be adjusted, today is reassuring Canadians that the relationship between the two nations is as strong as ever and will not be weakened by an occasional trade dispute.
<b>That reassurance should be good news for North Dakota. The state’s largest single trading partner is Canada.</b> Dorgan’s protectionist proclivities aside (he would like to see the North American Free Trade Agreement weakened or scrapped), the economic reality is that North Dakota’s cross-border exports and imports are vital to the state’s economic stability. Recent statistics from Canada and the North Dakota Trade Office show bilateral trade climbed 23 percent in 2007 to a total of $2.7 billion – $895 million to Canada, $1.8 billion from Canada. Those numbers represent half of North Dakota’s worldwide trade activity.
If the numbers don’t connect, the job statistics certainly should. Canada trade supported 18,750 North Dakota jobs in 2007. Additionally, Canadians made more than 624,000 visits to North Dakota and spent $152 million, mostly in the retail and hospitality industries.
The trade stream into Canada is made up mostly of agricultural products and machinery. Front-end loaders and tractors manufactured in the state comprised nearly $175 million of the total machinery exports of $316 million. Those are big numbers in North Dakota, and they translate into good jobs.
<b>The other big sector – agriculture – supplied Canada with $303 million in ag products, led by vegetable oils and fats, shelled corn and other oil seeds. Going the other way, North Dakota purchased tens of millions of dollars worth of Canadian ag products, led by canola imports at $210 million.</b>
<b>(take note all you budding Borgamites - that's canola leading the way, not wheat.</b>
The numbers in nearly all trade categories – including transportation equipment and energy – have been rising steadily since 2002. The trade relationship is thriving in large part because of NAFTA. <b>Certainly there are occasional disputes: The Canadian Wheat Board can be a problem for U.S. producers</b>; the “buy American” clause in the president’s stimulus package is raising Canadian eyebrows. But overall and over time the trading relationship between the two friendly neighbors has been beneficial to both. <b>The numbers confirm that maintaining and enhancing that relationship is important to the economic vitality of North Dakota.</b>
<b>Note that the problem, as the Americans see it, is with the CWB - not just wheat imports. So next time you want to argue that making the CWB voluntary will cause all kinds of trade disputes with the US, just remember this: they take more canola than wheat from us and they aren't complaining about our canola.</B>
Forum editorial: Canadian trade vital for North Dakota
The president’s visit to Canada today is an opportunity to remind North Dakotans – and Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D. – of the importance of the state’s trade relationship with our friendly neighbor to the north.
President Barack Obama restored a tradition that was broken by President George W. Bush. Bush made Mexico his first foreign visit in 2005, to the consternation of Canadians.
Obama, who has suggested trade agreements with Canada might be adjusted, today is reassuring Canadians that the relationship between the two nations is as strong as ever and will not be weakened by an occasional trade dispute.
<b>That reassurance should be good news for North Dakota. The state’s largest single trading partner is Canada.</b> Dorgan’s protectionist proclivities aside (he would like to see the North American Free Trade Agreement weakened or scrapped), the economic reality is that North Dakota’s cross-border exports and imports are vital to the state’s economic stability. Recent statistics from Canada and the North Dakota Trade Office show bilateral trade climbed 23 percent in 2007 to a total of $2.7 billion – $895 million to Canada, $1.8 billion from Canada. Those numbers represent half of North Dakota’s worldwide trade activity.
If the numbers don’t connect, the job statistics certainly should. Canada trade supported 18,750 North Dakota jobs in 2007. Additionally, Canadians made more than 624,000 visits to North Dakota and spent $152 million, mostly in the retail and hospitality industries.
The trade stream into Canada is made up mostly of agricultural products and machinery. Front-end loaders and tractors manufactured in the state comprised nearly $175 million of the total machinery exports of $316 million. Those are big numbers in North Dakota, and they translate into good jobs.
<b>The other big sector – agriculture – supplied Canada with $303 million in ag products, led by vegetable oils and fats, shelled corn and other oil seeds. Going the other way, North Dakota purchased tens of millions of dollars worth of Canadian ag products, led by canola imports at $210 million.</b>
<b>(take note all you budding Borgamites - that's canola leading the way, not wheat.</b>
The numbers in nearly all trade categories – including transportation equipment and energy – have been rising steadily since 2002. The trade relationship is thriving in large part because of NAFTA. <b>Certainly there are occasional disputes: The Canadian Wheat Board can be a problem for U.S. producers</b>; the “buy American” clause in the president’s stimulus package is raising Canadian eyebrows. But overall and over time the trading relationship between the two friendly neighbors has been beneficial to both. <b>The numbers confirm that maintaining and enhancing that relationship is important to the economic vitality of North Dakota.</b>
<b>Note that the problem, as the Americans see it, is with the CWB - not just wheat imports. So next time you want to argue that making the CWB voluntary will cause all kinds of trade disputes with the US, just remember this: they take more canola than wheat from us and they aren't complaining about our canola.</B>
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