Now Is The Time

If you're one of the many Canadian or American companies considering expanding across the border, what are you waiting for? The state of the economy may have you concerned, but economies go up and economies go down and if you allow indecision to paralyze you, you're preventing it from going up again. So pull on your accounting cap and start calculating how many counterweights that crane company across the border is going to need for that construction project you know is coming up. If you can get the contract, your foot will be in the door and you'll be on your way to cross-border trading.

Some businesses have natural extension opportunities related to the business they are doing in their field already. A company specializing in nutrient management services will have little trouble in translating their operations across the border, because nutrients are the same in the United States as they are in Canada and they'll always need managing, no matter what country they're in. FDA and Health Canada regulations may differ slightly, but almost never to the point where they're diametrically opposed on a substance. Your company's formulation may be different then they are used to in another country, but that just gives you the opportunity to showcase the benefits of your way of doing things.

The North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, versions of which have been in effect between Canada and the United States since 1988, gives you a huge leg up in that it removes a lot of the trade barriers that used to exist between our two countries. Now to a professional American deck duilder, Mississauga-made lumber is an alternative to Maine-made lumber, and he can choose which he would like to work with based on price and his own list of requirements rather than the government using tariffs and import taxes to force him to choose local products.

This is not to say there aren't any obstacles at all to your expansion of operations. Just like London, Ontario real estate is different from Halifax, Nova Scotia real estate because of provincial regulations and market variations American real estate will be different from Canadian real estate. Therefore it's important that you familiarize yourself with local laws, regulations, and customs for the town or city you plan to expand to across the border so you can blend smoothly into the economy with a minimum of hassle.

Yes, gone are the days when taking your business into the international arena was like pulling teeth from an angry crocodile. You don't need to hire a faux painting school to paint illicit Canadian metal shavings into paintings which are carried across the border in the dead of night and melted down in American factories. There's no prohibition, no tarrifs, no need for underground or black market trading unless you're doing something illegal. So take advantage of it! A whole other country is lain completely open to you. Seize the opportunity. Now is the time.