The United States and Canada share the world’s longest international border and the largest and most comprehensive trading relationship. This bilateral relationship is one of the closest and most extensive in the world making it too big and important to falter, and it will endure the current volatility in trade negotiations between the current administrations.
The United States and Canada traded goods and services of $627 billion in 2016, more than $1.7 billion per day. The United States had a $12.5 billion trade surplus. In addition, Canada is the United States’ largest energy supplier. More oil exports come from Canada to the U.S. than Saudi Arabia and Kuwait combined. The top exports from Canada to the U.S. were vehicles, electrical machinery,mineral fuel and oil, and plastic. Canada is also the Unites States’ second largest agriculture export market for fresh fruit and vegetables, snack foods, and beef. Over 8 million jobs depend on the trading relationship with Canada, and it is the top export destination for 38 states.
Canada and the United States have one of the world’s largest investment relationships. The United States is Canada’s largest foreign investor with about 47.5% of total foreign investment stock in Canada. Canada is the second largest investor in the United States, with $453 billion of investment stock supporting 636,100 jobs. U.S. investment in Canada is primarily in software,IT, transportation and business services sectors. Canadian investment in the United States is concentrated in software and IT, financial and business services, industrial machinery, and real estate.
Consequently, the relationship between the two countries and their respective economy’s relative strengths and weaknesses triggers a shift in capital flow from one side of the border to the other along with particular industries exhibiting the same behavior. Understanding these shifts and their impact on real estate investments on each side of the border is a differentiating strength of Blue Cardinal Capital, and our unique investment platform allows both U.S. and Canadian investors to access cross-border opportunities.