Gov. Steve Beshear says Kentucky is strengthening its ties with the country's neighbor to the north.
The governor led a Kentucky delegation made up of more than a dozen business representatives through stops in Ottawa, Montreal, and Toronto last week. Beshear says much of the legwork took place before the group made their way north of the border.
"We were up for about four days. We took a number of small and medium sized Kentucky companies with us. We had already matched them up with Canadian counterparts to sit down and talk about more trade and doing more business, both us to Canada and Canada to us," he says.
Asked if he supports the Trans-Pacific trade deal being pushed by President Obama, Beshear appeared wary of endorsing the partnership as is.
"Overall you're hopeful that these kinds of free trade deals will open up commerce both ways," he says. "I'm hopeful that we will look more toward the protection of American workers through those deals before they're finalized."
Already Kentucky’s largest trade partner, Canada imports more than $7.6 billion in products and services from the state – including vehicles, auto parts, and aerospace products.
