SOUTH DEERFIELD — In their first trip to western Massachusetts, Canadian Consulate members gathered with business leaders at Tree House Brewing Co. to discuss trade relations between Massachusetts and Canada.

American and Canadian officials — including Consul General Bernadette Jordan and state Rep. Aaron Saunders, D-Belchertown — chatted over pizza and beer on Tuesday evening. The gathering, Jordan noted, was timed to precede the review and renewal of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, slated for July 2026.

Jordan referred to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement as the “gold standard” of trade agreements, mentioning that ideas exchanged at the Tree House event would be “fed up the pipeline” for consideration during the agreement’s review.

“We’re here to make sure we make connections with businesses, with business organizations, with state representatives, community representatives, just to talk about how important the Canada-US trade relationship is and the important connections that we have between Massachusetts, particularly western Mass, and Canada,” Jordan said. “We are the largest customer of Massachusetts, the largest customer of western Mass as well. It’s an $11.4 billion trade between Massachusetts and Canada each year.”

According to the Canadian Consulate, Massachusetts exports $3.3 billion in goods — roughly 41% of which are equipment and machinery — to Canada annually, making the country the top customer of Massachusetts as well as 34 other states. In her speech, Jordan mentioned that Massachusetts imports $11.4 billion in goods from Canada each year.

Jordan said that in 2023, bilateral trade between the U.S. and Canada was $969 billion — in other words, $2.7 million worth of goods and services passed through the U.S.- Canada border each day. She later discussed how the two countries have become partners in combating climate change with green technology and have fought alongside one another in both World Wars, as well as the Afghanistan and the Balkan wars.

“I’m very excited to see the emerging hydrogen and wind industries in Canada that [will make an] impact with regrowth of renewables here in New England, and making a more dynamic and cross-border clean energy hub. Globally, the race is on to secure access to critical minerals like lithium, graphite and nickel. These critical minerals are essential; they’re essential building blocks, not only for our electric vehicles, but for renewable energy products and storage,” Jordan said. “It can be all too easy ... to take what we have in North America for granted. When you think about how difficult some other countries have it with their neighbors, it quickly puts into perspective the value of a Canada-U.S. relationship. Canada and the U.S. are stronger together, we’re more prosperous together and we are safer together.”

Massachusetts Office of International Trade and Investment Executive Director Jeevan Ramapriya echoed Jordan’s remarks in his speech, adding that the import of commodities such as oil, gas, seafood and minerals used for advanced manufacturing and robotics from Canada into Massachusetts has helped the state prosper. He commended the Canadian government for collaborating with the state to seek strategies for advancement in climate resilience and economic growth.

“The governor and I had a great visit with the consul general a few months ago and since then, we’ve had a lot of interaction with the Canadians,” Ramapriya said, citing various visits between Canadian and Massachusetts officials. “Massachusetts is, I think, the best place to live, best place to grow, best place to raise your family, best place to grow your business. I want to continue to work together with all of you to help bring foreign direct investment into western Massachusetts.”

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.