Arizona and Canada strengthen ties through new Phoenix trade office

PHOENIX – Arizona attracts tourists and foodies, major sports events and big business. The money comes from all over the world, but one major investor is a neighbor to the north: Canada.

Total trade between Arizona and Canada topped $5.3 billion in 2023. Arizona Rep. David Cook, R-Globe, who serves as the chair of the House International Trade Committee, has been an advocate for increasing trade with Canada.

“Where else can you take this large amount of money? Because you’re limited for investments in your own country of Canada — then what better place, what safer place to invest your people’s money than the state of Arizona,” Cook said.

Now the state is making it even easier for the two trade partners. In May, Cook and Gov. Katie Hobbs welcomed Mary Ng, Canada’s minister of export promotion, international trade and economic development, to Phoenix to announce the opening of a new Canadian trade office.

Cook said Phoenix was selected because of the growing business between Canada and Arizona. This comes as Canada closes its San Diego office.

With the office opening, Canada’s Consul General Zaib Shaikh, who represents Southern California, Arizona and Nevada, is excited to have a permanent presence in Phoenix to ease business and trade relationships, saying “that business can be done much faster since we haven’t had a real footprint there.”

Even before the trade office opened, Canadians have had a strong presence in Arizona for decades. Glenn Williamson, CEO of the Canada Arizona Business Council, said the Canadian influence started with miners over a century ago and then later on winter visitors arrived. Every year Canadian tourists spend about $2.4 billion in the state, according to the Business Council of Canada.

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Williamson is the chairman of the advisory board for Epcor USA, a water utility company that brought him to Arizona from Montreal. He said some of the largest private water utilities in Arizona are Canadian.

About 500 Canadian companies are in Arizona, according to Shaikh, including Bank of Montreal (BMO), Circle K, Cold Stone Creamery, Hudbay Minerals, Xnrgy and Li-Cycle. Other Canadian industries in the state are aerospace, engineering, security and residential construction.

Those companies offer around 24,000 jobs, Shaikh said. The Arizona Commerce Authority reported when manufacturing company Xnrgy broke ground in Mesa, it offered over 900 new jobs in the Valley.

The booming Canadian business in Arizona directly affects the job market for residents. And Cook said these are good jobs. “Those are really careers. That’s how people buy their first home, that’s how they buy their car. That’s how they upgrade from their first home to a nicer home, or to better cars,” Cook said.

Williamson alluded that business among North American borders will increase. “We’re watching Asia get more complex, and we’re watching Europe get more complex,” he said. “And Canada and Canadian funding and interests are coming back to North America.”

Arizona is also opening its own trade office in Toronto after about 100 American companies have found success in Canada, Shaikh said.