Alberta’s minister of trade says Canada’s oil and gas industry has little to worry about as wide-ranging North American trade negotiations get underway.
Speaking Thursday after a conference of state governments in Tacoma, Wash., Minister Deron Bilous said U.S. lawmakers recognize the importance of an integrated energy market.
He said Alberta government representatives have been meeting with U.S. counterparts regularly to emphasize the importance of market access and open borders, and he’s been encouraging industry members to do the same.
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Watch below: On Aug. 16, 2017, Ines del le Cuetara filed this report as the first round of NAFTA renegotiations got underway between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.
Bilous said efforts in recent months were helpful in effectively killing the proposal for a border adjustment tax, which could have set tariffs for oil and gas imports from Canada and presented one of the biggest trade threats to the industry.
He said the provincial government is also pushing for more open borders for agriculture and other products, and the need to harmonize regulations to speed up the flow of goods.
“There’s little doubt that NAFTA brings economic benefits to Alberta and Canada,” Bilous said. “But it’s important to recognize that it brings benefits to the United States and Mexico as well.
“It is truly in the best interest of each country that we have an agreement that maintains and expands on those benefits. That’s what Alberta will be looking for in these talks.”
The minister’s comments come a day after NAFTA trade negotiations kicked off in Washington, D.C., with dozens of topics set to be covered in the talks.
According to Bilous, one-million jobs in the U.S. rely on cross-border trade to Alberta. He also said since NAFTA’s inception, 500,000 jobs have been created in Alberta relating to exports to the U.S.
– With files from 630 CHED’s Kyle Morris and Global News’ Phil Heidenreich