Trade mission planned to boost ties between New Hampshire, Canada amid times of uncertainty

A state-sponsored trade mission is preparing to leave for Canada early next month to help strengthen economic ties between New Hampshire and its neighbor to the north at a time of declining tourism and uncertainty caused by tariffs.The New Hampshire-Canadian Trade Council is the tip of the spear in efforts to maintain a strong business relationship between a state and a nation during a trade war.Tensions are easing at the moment as retaliatory tariffs on goods under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement are being removed, but the overall trade picture remains muddled.”We have heard of some international shippers that are actually halting shipments to the United States until they figure out what they need to do to comply with the new rules and regulations,” said Adam Boltik, program manager for the Office of International Commerce at the New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs.>> Download the free WMUR app to get updates on the go: Apple | Google Play <<BEA reported at the end of July that summer tourism from Canada was down more than 30%, and local officials said they’re seeing it firsthand.”A lot of the businesses are not seeing the business they usually do during this time of year,” said state Rep. Janet Wall, D-Madbury. “At the beaches, there are actually open parking spaces, and people are a little concerned.”Government and business leaders will head north on Sept. 8 for a multi-day trade mission aimed at fortifying the New Hampshire-Canada trade relationship. Officials said building local relationships can help tourism numbers bounce back.”I think that’s really what’s going to overcome a lot of this,” said Taylor Caswell, commissioner of Business and Economic Affairs. “You’ve got a lot of national-to-national activity going on, but we still have that really strong connection, culturally, between Canada and New Hampshire.”The work to strengthen ties between New Hampshire and Canada won’t stop after this trade mission, officials said. The state is planning to boost its efforts to educate Granite State businesses that are ready to start exporting to make those connections across the northern border.”We’ll train New Hampshire businesses how to do business or how to start doing business in Canada to bring our products over the border and vice versa,” said state Sen. Tim McGough, R-Merrimack.