“Vacant gas stations are still the most noticeable feature of downtown Sumas, but the border city of about 1,000 people is showing signs of a new prosperity after years of riding the Canadian shopping rollercoaster.
That prosperity is based mostly on industrial jobs that have moved into the area. Two wood-processing plants that have set up shop in the past two years have added more than 100 jobs to the local economy: Teal Jones Lumber Services, with 25 workers, and Cedarprime Inc. with 95. Managers at both firms say they expect to expand their payrolls in the not-too-distant future. … Sumas also owes much of its industrial boomlet to its border location. Teal Jones and Cedarprime are Canadian-based companies that ship crude cuts of wood to Sumas to be turned into finished building materials. By doing the finishing in the United States, the companies avoid the higher duties they would have to pay on finished products shipped directly into this country.
Cedarprime manager Carlos Rodrigues said his company would be unlikely to close up its Sumas operation even if the softwood lumber duties - much despised in Canada - were to be abolished. His company has a 25-year lease and a $6 million investment, and would be cost-competitive even if the duty went away, he said.”
I have compiled a list of nearly 175 Canadian companies that have some type of business base in the United States. This ranges from companies like CedarPrime and Teal Jones to small companies with a mail box in Blaine. I am interested in further expanding this list. As I have said before, Whatcom County and the greater Bellingham area realize that Canadian employers are the largest combined employer in the area. However, no one really knows what kind of employment base Canadian companies are actually creating. If you know of a Canadian company operating in Whatcom County and/or Washington State (or anywhere in the U.S. for that matter) I would be very interested in knowing about them. If you are a Canadian company operating in the U.S., please let me know about yourself; number of employees in the U.S., percentage of business in the U.S. as compared to Canada, what your product or service is, etc, etc. I think it would be interesting to create a discussion board on this blog where cross border businesses could discuss different issues they are dealing with and could find advice for cross border business issues.
Read more via the Bellingham Herald
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