Canada – Our Energy and Jobs Partner

Mark Green
Posted November 11, 2014

America’s trading relationship with Canada is key to U.S. energy security but also to the U.S. economy, as discussed in this recent post.

Some numbers from the International Trade Administration (ITA) help make a couple of finer points. First, while the United States imports more crude oil from Canada than any other country, our goods exports to Canada supported nearly 1.3 million jobs here in 2013 – and that number is on the rise. Second, U.S. oil and natural gas sector goods exports account for more than half of the growth in overall jobs supported by goods exports to Canada from 2010 to 2013 – and that number also is increasing. Details:

• U.S. goods exports to Canada supported 1.29 million jobs in 2013, up 105,440 jobs since 2010 or an increase of 8.9 percent.
• Growth in jobs supported by goods exports to Canada accounted for 17.7 percent of the growth in all U.S. jobs supported by goods exports.
• U.S. oil and natural gas sector goods exports to Canada supported 122,370 jobs in 2013, an increase of 58,432 since 2010 – a 91.4 percent growth rate.
• Growth in jobs supported by oil and natural gas sector goods exports to Canada accounted for more than 55 percent of the growth in all jobs supported by goods exports to Canada.

What we see here is the importance of a strong trading relationship with neighbor and ally Canada. We know from Census Bureau data that for every dollar spent on goods imports from Canada, the U.S. receives about 95 cents in return via goods exports to Canada. The ITA numbers show that trade with Canada also benefits the U.S. in jobs supported.

Both factoids point to domestic benefits from a strong U.S. energy partnership with Canada – one that is strengthened with continued development and import of Canadian oil sands, which would be aided by construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

The pipeline would deliver upwards of 830,000 barrels of oil per day – about 75 percent of it from Canada and the other 25 percent from the U.S. Bakken region – and would be part of overall oil sands development that could contribute to seeing 100 percent of U.S. liquid fuel needs met domestically and from Canada in about 10 years, increasing U.S. energy security.

Circling back, Keystone XL would be an important piece of the overall U.S.-Canadian trading relationship, one that benefits the U.S. economically and in terms of jobs supported. It’s a relationship that should be encouraged to grow by the right policy choices in Washington.