U.S.-Canadian conference to hit Mobile amid tariff spat

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's response to U.S. tariffs has provoked anger from U.S. President Donald Trump.(Fred Chartrand/The Canadian Press via AP)

Back when a U.S.-Canadian trade conference was booked for Mobile, who could have guessed the very notion of U.S.-Canadian business would be frothing with controversy?

Yet here things stand: On Monday, Alabama's Port City welcomes the SEUS-CP Conference, an unwieldly acronym that stands for Southeastern United States - Canadian Provinces. And on Friday the president is making global headlines bashing Canada for treating U.S. farmers "very poorly for a very long period of time" and maintaining unfair, "highly restrictive" trade barriers.

It should all make for some interesting discussions at the 11th annual SEUS-CP gathering, which is generally intended to celebrate and facilitate partnerships between Canada and the South. In a release issued Friday by the Alabama Department of Commerce, Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield said the convention was a chance to "show off the dynamic global business community that is flourishing in Mobile and across the state."

Setting aside for a second the question of whether that can continue to flourish amid an escalating tariff fight, SEUS-CP highlights some significant business relationships.

According to information released by Canfield's office, Canada is a Top 5 investor in Alabama: Since 1999 Canadian companies have made more than $2.5 billion in capital investment in the state, creating an estimated 5,700 jobs. Overall, two-way trade between Canada the SEUS states topped $50 billion in 2017, according to Canfield's office. (Those states are Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina.)

Canfield's office lists transportation equipment, machinery, computer/electronic products and chemicals as top Southern exports to Canada. It says top imports from Canada are chemicals, transportation equipment, machinery, plastics and rubber products.

"Mobile is home to more than 50 international investments, contributing to our city's diversified economy," Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Bill Sisson said ahead of the SEUS-CP conference. "During the past few years alone, we've been proud to welcome Canadian companies Danby Products and Canfor Southern Pine with both companies expanding operations here. And most recently, we've celebrated the new partnership between Airbus and Bombardier."

That Airbus-Bombardier project is potentially huge for the Mobile area. If seen through, the companies would build a new aircraft assembly line alongside the one where Airbus assembles its A320-family jets. The new one, assembling the C-Series jets designed by Canada-based Bombardier, could mean 400 new aerospace jobs.

"We look forward to continued alliances with Canada and look forward to welcoming this prestigious group to Mobile," Sisson added.

According to information provided by the Alabama Department of Commerce, planned focal points of this year's conference included business-to-business matchmaking, to help small and mid-sized U.S. businesses find international partners; increased energy demands; and workforce development. The theme is "Shared Values for a Prosperous Future."

How much the backdrop will change over the next few days is hard to predict; developments have been coming rapidly.

On Thursday, President Donald Trump levied steel and aluminum tariffs on Mexico, Canada and the European Union. All three indicated they would apply retaliatory tariffs or take legal action; Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had the sharpest immediate reaction, calling it a "turning point in the Canada-U.S. relationship."

Whether the U.S. runs a deficit in trade with Canada is subject to dispute. But any imbalance is smaller than that between the U.S. and Mexico, and a fraction of that with China.

"We have to believe at some point common sense will prevail," Trudeau said. "But we see no sign of that in the U.S. action today."

Trudeau said Canada would impose tariffs of its own, on U.S. steel and aluminum products and dozens of other categories. An official "notice to impose countermeasures action" specifies numerous products including a wide range of food items, whiskies, grooming products, household items, motorboats and sailboats, mattresses and sleeping bags.

That in turn led to further anger from Trump on Friday, expressed in his Tweet.

Those taking part in the SEUC-CP conference include Nadia Theodore, the consul general of Canada in Atlanta.

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