Last month I was honored to join Governor Kelly Ayotte on her trade mission to Canada, her first such mission since taking office in January. The NH delegation included NH BEA Commissioner Taylor Caswell, State Senator Tim McGough, the Chair of the NH Canadian Trade Council, and Andrea Hechavarria, President & CEO of New Hampshire Life Sciences. We were also fortunate to be joined for much of the trip by Bernadette Jordan, Canada’s Consul General to the New England States.

As New Hampshire’s statewide chamber of commerce and manufacturing association, the Business & Industry Association (BIA) works to champion a competitive business climate and a prosperous economic future for our state. We believe that economic growth and job creation drive the health and vitality of our state and communities. The Governor’s trade mission reinforced how vital New Hampshire’s economic relationship with Canada is as well as the immense opportunity we have to strengthen that partnership in ways that promote innovation, growth, and prosperity for New Hampshire’s economy.

The trade mission featured a jam-packed five-day itinerary across two Canadian provinces. The delegation kicked off our trip by traveling to Halifax, Nova Scotia. With a population slightly over a million, Nova Scotia as a province is a useful comparator for New Hampshire given our state’s population of 1.3 million and similar demographic trends. The delegation visited The Labs, a technology incubator run by Invest Nova Scotia, met with the Halifax Partnership, a regional business and economic development association, and toured COVE, an incubator and innovation center focused on supporting ocean technology and maritime industries. The focus and precision with which the Halifax and Nova Scotian government focused its investments, policies, and partnerships with the private sector on key growth industries like life sciences and ocean technology was impressive and an important takeaway for the delegation.

The delegation wrapped up its visit to Halifax the following morning with a “New Hampshire Breakfast Roundtable” hosted by the BIA for Halifax business leaders interested in expanding operations and doing business in New Hampshire. The response from attendees to our state’s business climate and pro-business regulatory environment was encouraging and I’m pleased to share that the connections made that morning have already led to follow-up discussions with prospects looking to expand to New Hampshire.

After a brief stop in Montreal for briefings with US and Canadian government officials, the delegation next visited Quebec City. Similar to in Halifax, we toured impressive business incubator and innovation centers backed that are the product of public private partnerships between the Quebec government and regional business community. Highlights of the visit included visiting FPInnovations, a forestry-sector backed technology innovation association, and meeting with Federation of Chamber of Commerce of Quebec and Quebec International, an economic development organization focused on promoting the city and region’s economic and trade relations.

The trade mission culminated with a closing reception hosted by the NH Canadian Trade Council where the Governor and Senator McGough welcomed a packed room of NH and Canadian business leaders and elected officials. A theme throughout our visit was that despite tension over trade and tariff negotiations at the national level, the economic and cultural bonds between New Hampshire and Canada, and specifically the eastern provinces of Nova Scotia and Quebec, are deep, long-lasting, and will endure the politics of today. The NH delegation shared with our Canadian counterparts our desire and support for a quick and decisive to resolution to trade policy negotiations between our two countries so our focus and energy going forward can be on shared opportunities for economic growth. For New Hampshire, the opportunities for economic growth are immense – in 2024 New Hampshire businesses exported $1.2 billion in goods to Canada, making our neighbors to the north our top trading partner. Canada accounts for roughly 40% of New Hampshire’s total exports and supports more than 30,000 jobs across the state.

On behalf of the BIA, I want to thank Governor Ayotte for leading this important mission at such a pivotal time for our state’s international relationships. The connections and insights gained are already producing results, and we look forward to welcoming our Canadian partners to the Granite State soon.

Michael Skelton is president and CEO of the Business & Industry Association of New Hampshire. Visit BIAofNH.com.