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Philadelphia, United States of America

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today concluded a successful visit to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as part of Team Canada’s work to promote the Canada-U.S. relationship, advance opportunities to grow cross-border trade, and deliver fairness for every generation.

In Philadelphia, the Prime Minister participated in the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Quadrennial North American Convention, where he delivered remarks highlighting the strong partnership between Canada and the U.S. as well as the crucial work of labour unions – including in the health care sector – to protect workers’ rights, create stability, defend good middle-class jobs, and build dynamic economies on both sides of the border.

At the Convention, Prime Minister Trudeau joined the Vice-President of the United States of America, Kamala Harris, to meet with union representatives and discuss the important contributions of organized labour, exemplified by our cross-border unions.

The two leaders discussed how Canada and the U.S. can further strengthen our close relationship and work together in areas of mutual interest. This includes increasing trade and investment, scaling up our cross-border supply chains, supporting our manufacturing sectors, and accelerating the transition to net-zero. This is part of our shared commitment to build a better, fairer, and more prosperous future for Canadians and Americans alike.

The Prime Minister also met with the Governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, to discuss the importance of the Canada-Pennsylvania relationship. The leaders highlighted Canada and Pennsylvania’s rich ties: Pennsylvania is home to a large number of Canadians, and in 2023, Canadian-owned companies employed 30,300 workers in the state. Canada also has an extensive footprint in Pennsylvania, with US$13.6 billion in exports to the state every year.

Additionally, Prime Minister Trudeau participated in a roundtable with U.S. business leaders to showcase Canada as an important partner and excellent investment destination and to discuss opportunities for future commercial, investment, and trade collaboration.

While in Philadelphia, the Prime Minister, alongside other world leaders and representatives from industry, academia, and civil society, took part virtually in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Seoul Summit. During the Summit, Prime Minister Trudeau highlighted Canada’s leadership and investments in AI, including through a $2.4 billion package of measures announced in Budget 2024. He also joined a joint Leaders’ declaration on AI governance – the Seoul Declaration for Safe, Innovative and Inclusive AI – that will serve as a roadmap to advance AI safety around the world, including through an international network of AI Safety Institutes. As part of the Budget 2024 measures on AI, the federal government announced an investment of $50 million to create a Canadian AI Safety Institute to further the safe development and deployment of AI, joining the United Kingdom, the U.S., and Japan that have set up similar institutes. Leading up to the Summit, Canada and the United Kingdom also negotiated a joint ministerial statement on AI safety to deepen their collaboration in that field.

Quotes

“Canada and the U.S. have the world’s most successful partnership. Team Canada is working with our American partners to deepen these ties, grow our economies, keep our air clean, create good-paying jobs, and build a better, fairer future. Together, we’re putting our people on both sides of the border at the forefront of opportunity.”

The Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada

“Canada continues to play a leading role on the global governance and responsible use of AI. From our role championing the creation of the Global Partnership on AI (GPAI), to pioneering a national AI strategy, to being among the first to propose a legislative framework to regulate AI, we will continue engaging with the global community to shape the international discourse to build trust around this transformational technology.”

The Hon. François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry

Quick Facts

  • While in Philadelphia, the Prime Minister also met with leaders of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
  • The SEIU is a labour union that represents some 2 million individuals. It includes SEIU-Healthcare, which represents roughly 60,000 health care workers in Ontario.
  • Announced by the Prime Minister last January, the government’s renewed Team Canada engagement strategy with the U.S. brings together experts and leaders in business, labour, and academia, along with provincial and territorial partners, to deepen Canada’s relationship with our closest ally. Modelled off of the successful U.S. engagement strategy Canada led just a few years ago, this new engagement strategy is helping to advance opportunities for Canadian workers, businesses, entrepreneurs, and communities across the country.
  • Canada and the U.S. share one of the largest trading relationships in the world, which supports millions of good jobs on both sides of the border. The two countries also share the longest and most secure border in the world, over which nearly $3.6 billion worth of goods and services cross daily.
  • With over $1.3 trillion in bilateral trade in goods and services in 2023, Canada was the U.S.’ largest trading partner that year. Canada-U.S. trade is built on long-standing binational supply chains, whereby approximately 79 per cent of Canadian goods exported to the U.S. are incorporated into U.S. supply chains.
  • More than 2.2 million jobs in Canada depend on exports to the U.S., and more than 7.8 million jobs in the U.S. are related to trade with Canada.
  • According to U.S. data, majority-owned Canadian companies operating in the U.S. employ over 866,000 workers.
  • In 2023, Pennsylvania imported US$13.6 billion in merchandise from Canada and exported US$14.3 billion in merchandise to Canada. The state’s economy depends on imports of Canadian crude oil, wood pulp, lumber, and various metals. In 2023, Canadian-owned companies employed 30,300 workers in the state.
  • Held over two days, the AI Seoul Summit is co-chaired by the President of the Republic of Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol, and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak.
  • At the Summit, Canada’s leadership in AI was represented by:
    • Yoshua Bengio, Founder and Scientific Director, Mila; Scientific Director, IVADO; and Full Professor, Department of Computer Science and Operations Research, Université de Montréal.
    • Tony Gaffney, President and Chief Executive Officer, Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence.
    • Aidan Gomez, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Cohere.
  • In Budget 2024, the federal government announced a $2.4 billion package of measures to secure Canada’s AI advantage. These investments include:
    • $2 billion to build and provide access to computing capabilities and technological infrastructure for Canada’s world-leading AI researchers, start-ups, and scale-ups.
    • $200 million through Canada’s Regional Development Agencies to help AI start-ups bring new technologies to market and accelerate the adoption of AI in critical sectors, such as agriculture, clean technology, health care, and manufacturing.
    • $100 million for the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) AI Assist Program to help small and medium-sized businesses scale up and increase productivity by building and deploying new AI solutions.
    • $50 million for the Sectoral Workforce Solutions Program to support skills training for workers potentially impacted by AI, such as those in creative industries.
    • $50 million to create a new Canadian AI Safety Institute that will leverage input from stakeholders and work in coordination with international partners to further the safe development and deployment of AI.
    • $5.1 million to strengthen enforcement of the proposed Artificial Intelligence and Data Act, which aims to guide AI innovation in a positive direction, ensure the responsible adoption of AI by Canadian businesses, and protect Canadians from AI’s potential risks.
    • $3.5 million to advance Canada’s leadership role with the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI).
  • Since 2016, the federal government has committed over $4.4 billion to foster growth across Canada’s AI ecosystem and digital infrastructure. More broadly, the government has committed over $16 billion to support scientific discovery, develop Canadian research talent, and attract top researchers from around the world.

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