Many Canadian private companies view global expansion as a core business strategy. And it’s no wonder. The Conference Board of Canada estimates that more than $325 billion worth of goods and services flow to the US annually, representing 70 percent of Canada’s exports, but with rising public debt levels and a sluggish economy in the US, and a Canadian dollar at par thrown into the mix, our exports to the US have steadily fallen from their peak at 85 percent of total exports only 10 years ago.
In fact, in 2009, the number of Canadian companies exporting to countries other than the US rose to 43 percent of exporting entities, representing one quarter of total export value. The value of exports to the US, meanwhile, fell 29 percent to its lowest value in a decade and the number of companies exporting exclusively to the US fell to its lowest level since 1997.
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