Canada-US Business Leaders, including Dickinson Wright, to Host 2016 Summit in Ohio

More than 40 Canada-U.S. business groups are calling for a three-day Summit to discuss the future of the cross-border trade relationship in the wake of this week’s official State visit between U.S. President Barack Obama and the Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau. The Canada-U.S. Summit 2016 will focus on Strategies, Advocacy, Gateways, and Engagement and will be held at The Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio) on June 15-17, 2016.

Summit sessions will include discussions on Canada-U.S. key industries: automotive, aerospace, agribusiness, energy, and consumer products, as well as expanded cross-border trade in information technology, labor mobility, regional wellness, and infrastructure development. The Summit will mark the first time in recent memory where the majority of national and regional Canada-U.S. business groups will meet under one roof with political leaders on each side of the border to discuss the future of the two-way relationship.

The time is right for action. “The Canada-U.S. Summit follows a long-standing, but unfortunately abandoned, tradition of the cross-border business community coming together to address the issues confronting our relationship,” said one of the Summit’s founders, Dr. Christopher Sands, Director of the John Hopkins Center for Canadian Studies in Washington, D.C. “Given the political transitions in each country, as well as issues such as softwood lumber, climate policy, the border, and changes in global value chains, this Summit comes at an important time in bilateral relations.”

The organizers selected Ohio as the site for the Summit given the state’s geographic position in the heart of the binational Great Lakes region, as well as the political importance of the state in the U.S. election season. “We want to utilize the spotlight on Ohio in 2016 as a way to feature the most important two-way trading relationship in the world,” said Prof. Beth-Anne Schuelke-Leech of The Ohio State University’s John Glenn College of Public Affairs. “While we will be holding the Summit in the political and economic bell-weather state of Ohio, this is a continental event and we look forward to hosting corporate, political and policy leaders from throughout the Canada-U.S. relationship at The Ohio State University.”

For more information, please contact:

Dan Ujczo
U.S. Canadian Summit 2016 Phone: 614-744-2579
Dickinson Wright PLLC Mobile: 614-271-8355
150 E. Gay Street, Suite 2400 Fax: 248-433-7274
Columbus, OH 43215 Email: dujczo@dickinsonwright.com

About the US-Canada Summit: The Summit is being organized by a Council of more than 40 Canada-U.S. business associations led by Sands, Schuelke, Laurie Tannous of the University of Windsor Cross Border Institute, and Dan Ujczo of cross-border law firm, Dickinson Wright. For more information, please visit: http://glenn.osu.edu/sage/

Participating Organizations:

American Chamber of Commerce in Canada
Binational Research and Innovation Corridor
Canada-Arizona Business Council
Canadian Association of Importers and Exporters
Canada Business Association of North Carolina
Canada Institute at the Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Schools
Canada-Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce
Canada-U.S. Law Institute
Canada U.S. Business Association
Canadian/American Border Trade Alliance
Canadian American Business Council
Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters
Canadian Trucking Alliance
Cross-Border Institute at the University
of Windsor
Coalition for America’s Gateways and
Trade Corridors
Columbus 2020
Council of Great Lakes Industries
Council of the Great Lakes Region
Council of State Governments – Midwest
Dickinson Wright
George W. Bush Institute
Global Public Affairs
Great Lakes Manufacturing Council
Great Lakes Metro Chambers Coalition
Jobs Ohio
John Hopkins Center for Canadian Studies at SAIS Kaufman Trade Law
LEXSAGE
Niagara Global Tourism Institute
North American Strategy for Competitiveness
Northof41.org
Ohio Canada Business Association
The Ohio State University John Glenn College of
Public Affairs
Pacific Northwest Economic Region
University at Buffalo
w2n2
WBE Canada