Is Canada the Key Player in US Trade

 According to President Biden, Canada is the United States' closest friend, partner, and ally. Over the last 150 years, our two countries have developed one of the most intimate and extended partnerships. Canada is our largest commercial partner, with approximately $2.6 billion in products and services crossing our shared border, the world's longest land border, each day, representing a nearly 20% growth over the previous year in 2022. This trade supports millions of jobs on both sides of the border. Our individuals have deep personal and familial bonds, and we've worked together to address some of the world's most important issues. President Biden's administration has restored trust and confidence between our two countries while reaffirming the United States' long-standing commitment to the US-Canada relationship. The US-Canada alliance benefits not only our people, but the entire world, because collaboration enables us to do anything.

The United States and Canada are promoting inclusive economic growth and job creation by strengthening private sector investment. We will use the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act to build integrated supply chains and boost North America's competitiveness.Last year, the US announced $250 million in Defense Production Act (DPA) funding for American and Canadian companies to mine and process critical minerals for electric vehicles and stationary storage batteries. This April, awards will be presented to companies in the United States and Canada. The Canadian Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund will invest CAD $1.5 billion in sustainable energy and transportation infrastructure projects, with an additional CAD $1.5

billion available from the Strategic Innovation Fund for advanced manufacturing, processing, and recycling.

Both countries will collaborate to create a cross-border semiconductor packaging corridor, with Canada and IBM providing significant incentives as part of a memorandum of understanding to build new and expanded packaging and testing capabilities at its Bromont plant. The accord will increase jobs and economic activity in Canada and the United States. The US also announced $50 million in DPA funding for US and Canadian companies to improve advanced packaging of semiconductors and printed circuit boards in North America. Canada will contribute up to CAD $250 million to semiconductor initiatives through its Strategic Innovation Fund. The United States and Canada agreed to identify opportunities between the two countries to promote training and employment in priority areas such as clean energy and skilled trades, as well as to bring together key players from multinational corporations, unions, state and provincial governments, and educational and training institutions to expand the pool of talent required for critical supply chains. To address North America's expanding demand for electric vehicles, the United States and Canada will collaborate with automakers, battery producers, and organized labor on cross-border training and credentials.

The United States and Canada have updated their Joint Action Plan for Critical Minerals Cooperation. Under the Plan, the Departments of State, Commerce, Defense, and Energy, as well as the United States Geological Survey, will collaborate with Canadian counterparts to increase information and data sharing, promote private sector engagement, coordinate research and development, and cooperate at multilateral fora. Addressing the climate disaster is a top priority for President Biden, and both the United States and Canada, our largest energy trade partner, are dedicated to taking decisive action. Our countries will expand the clean energy economy by enacting innovative legislation such as the United States Inflation Reduction Act, which would speed up the clean energy transition and transform North America into a clean energy powerhouse.

The United States and Canada have established the world's largest market-based energy trading agreement

laying a solid basis as we work to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. We will work to harmonize charging standards and develop cross-border alternative fuel corridors, using USD $7.5 billion from the US Bipartisan Infrastructure Act and CAD $1.2 billion to build a network of electric vehicle fast chargers and community charging options on both sides ofThe US and Canada will work together on the US Department of Energy's Energy Earthshot™, which establishes decadal performance targets for key technology areas. Canada wants to support the Long length Storage Shot (LDSS) objectives, which aim to reduce the cost of grid-scale energy storage by 90% for systems with 10 or more hours of length within a decade. To meet the LDSS target, Canada plans to prioritize energy storage technology for remote and off-grid uses the border .

Canada will fund and provide in-kind support for the Foundational Infrastructure for Responsible Use of Small Modular Reactor Technology (FIRST) program, which is the Biden administration's leading international initiative to assist partner countries in developing nuclear energy programs that meet the highest safety, security, and nonproliferation standards. The United States and Canada will also coordinate efforts to develop secure and reliable North American nuclear fuel supply chains that do not rely on authoritarian-based suppliers, as well as expand partnerships with long-standing allies and partners, both of which will help ensure access to low-enriched uranium and High-Assay Low Enriched Uranium. Building on Canada and the United States' commitments to achieve net-zero power grids by 2035 and to accelerate efforts to phase out new, unabated coal power generation facilities, both countries plan to propose regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their respective sectors by this fall.

The United States and Canada also want to collaborate with other major energy importers and exporters to build a globally consistent approach to measuring, monitoring, reporting, and verifying

lifecycle methane and CO2 emissions along the fossil energy value chain. The United States and Canada have pledged to working closely with Arctic Indigenous Peoples and incorporating Indigenous Knowledge into decision-making processes whenever possible. The two governments agreed that reducing localized emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and black carbon in the Arctic will supplement our global mitigation efforts. The two countries also agreed to conserve and protect Arctic biodiversity, ecosystems, habitats, and species, as well as work together to plan for, prevent, and respond to oil spills and other environmental disasters in the Arctic.The Leaders acknowledged the issues that the construction of the international border between the United States and Canada poses to Indigenous populations.

The leaders are committed to collaborating to address the shared border's effects on mobility, traditional customs, Native language preservation, kinship, cultural linkages, and economic prospects for Indigenous Peoples. This includes a pledge to collaborate with Tribal Nations and Alaska Native Villages in the United States, as well as First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples in Canada, to address these long-standing border issues. Leaders agreed to work in the coming months to reach an agreement on a modernized Columbia River Treaty regime that provides flood risk management, power generation, and environmental benefits that are shared equitably by both countries, as well as Indigenous and Tribal nations, communities, and stakeholders in the watershed.

The United States and Canada are conducting a joint technical study and evaluation to examine if the U.S.-Canada Air Quality Agreement (AQA), agreed in 1991, satisfies its environmental objectives and is effective in limiting transboundary pollution. The agreement includes agreements from both countries to address acid rain and ground-level ozone. The study will also investigate pollutants/issues not currently covered by the AQA, such as particulate matter (PM2.5). Under the agreement, the United States and Canada will work together on science and research concerns such as wildfires, ammonia, and methane as an ozone precursor.