Ontario and New Jersey have reached a fresh agreement to continue collaboration across the two borders.
On Sunday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy finalized a new Memorandum of Understanding between the two jurisdictions, one that will place cross-border trade, investment, economic collaboration and jobs as focal points in their bilateral relationship.
“It has never been more important for Ontario and our U.S. partners to work together to create more jobs and prosperity, promote our shared values and protect our shared national security interests,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in a release. “Now is the time to bet big on the U.S.-Canada relationship.”
In an interview with BNN Bloomberg on Monday, the governor of New Jersey said Canada is the state’s number one trade partner, “bigger than the next three countries combined,” Gov. Phil Murphy said. Murphy is the first Democratic governor to serve a second term in 44 years.
According to the Ontario government, trade between Ontario and New Jersey in 2023 was worth $9.8 billion.
Details yet to be finalized
Details of the agreement have yet to be finalized but in broad strokes, Murphy said it’s about three things: “It’s trade, it’s jobs, it’s investments.”
The deal is not the first between the state and the province, as predecessors inked a deal back in 2005, but Murphy said both sides agreed it was time to update it.
New Jersey is particularly interested in working with Ontario to capitalize on innovation needs in a changing technological landscape.
Projects in artificial intelligence, fintech, energy and digital health, have been identified as priorities, while continuing collaborations in life sciences, advanced manufacturing and agriculture sectors have also been highlighted.
Murphy said he is confident in New Jersey’s ability to be a force in these expanding industries, given the state’s history as an innovator.
“A lot of places start from ground zero. The good news in New Jersey is [innovation is] our legacy, we are an innovation economy. Bell Labs, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein. We invented the transistor and the lightbulb; we start with a lot of natural strengths,” he said.
“We aim to get bigger and stronger and we think we can do that in a win-win-win fashion with Canada, and specifically Ontario,” he said.
Rise of protectionism
When asked about what direction the winds are blowing in global trade, Murphy said “it’s concerning” to see the rising popularity of protectionist policies but he’s interested in finding the best of both worlds.
“I think you can have it both ways. I think you can have a largely free trade regime in the world, particularly among like-minded allies, and on the other side, you can put programs in place that hold up labour, that retrain, reskill and upskill. There are no two countries on the planet which have more closely aligned values than Canada and the United States and New Jersey is an embodiment of those values,” he said.
“We already have an enormous amount of two-way trade and investment. This trip for us is building strength upon strength.”