Stateline Midwest ~ February 2013

With the North American economy becoming ever more integrated, delays at the U.S.-Canada border have the potential to cost more and more money.With the North American economy becoming ever more integrated, delays at the U.S.-Canada border have the potential to cost more and more money.

Stateline Midwest ~ Issue Brief

The U.S. and Canadian economies are closely intertwined, but barriers to optimal trade remain an issue. States and provinces can and should have a role in helping remove these barriers.

Economic integration between neighboring states and nations is no longer a looming probability; it’s a global reality. Participants learned how their state’s small and medium-sized businesses can compete and thrive through innovative approaches from Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuño, CSG’s current president, and Canadian Ambassador and former Manitoba Premier Gary Doer. Both Fortuño and Doer are leaders in finding ways to develop short- and long-term economic progress and in developing solutions to help American businesses compete in the new global economy.

In the dismal economic news of the past few years, U.S. exports have been a bright spot, Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuño said Sunday.

“There is tremendous growth, for both the U.S. and Canada in terms of emerging markets that create unique opportunities for all of us,” Fortuño, the 2012 CSG president, said during the International Committee meeting. “There is a demand for quality throughout the world.”

We have several new transportation-related publications here in the Knowledge Center this month. Here are a few updates and additional resources on the topics they address.

The ongoing Panama Canal expansion is perhaps the most transformative global transportation project currently in progress. Upon completion in 2014, the expanded Panama Canal will facilitate an even greater flow of trade between Asia and the Americas and substantially impact the volume of trade reaching Gulf and East Coast ports in the United States. The impetus for the expansion of the Canal, approved by the people of Panama in October 2006, sprang from that nation's desire to continue to be a pivotal player in global trade patterns and strategically leverage its greatest asset–the Panama Canal–for its own economic well-being.

Stateline Midwest

Canada is the largest supplier of energy to the United States, providing 9 percent of this country’s energy needs — more than Saudi Arabia and Venezuela combined. These statistics, and other information related to bilateral energy trade, were the focus of a joint meeting this summer of the MLC’s Energy and Midwest-Canada Relations committees.

Stateline Midwest Vol. 20, No. 7: July/August 2012

After two years of seeking options and legislative support to build a new bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Michigan Republican Gov. Rick Snyder appears to have found a way to make it a reality.