Inside US–Canada Trade: Québec’s Role in Strengthening Kentucky Partnerships
April 14, 2026
awtcky_administration@wtcky.org
Episode 35: In this episode of the World Trade Center Kentucky’s podcast, Jim Ray sits down with Québec Delegate General David Brulotte to discuss the evolving trade relationship between Canada and the United States, with a focus on Kentucky’s role. David explains Québec’s long-standing presence in the U.S. and its mission to strengthen economic, cultural, and governmental ties across regions. The conversation highlights the deep interdependence between Kentucky and Canada, particularly in sectors like aluminum, automotive, aerospace, and manufacturing. They also address the current uncertainty caused by tariffs and how it is impacting businesses on both sides of the border.
Despite these challenges, both leaders emphasize the importance of maintaining strong, face-to-face relationships and open communication. David shares insights into Québec’s strategic priorities, including defense investment and critical minerals development. The discussion underscores the value of subnational diplomacy and the role states and provinces play in sustaining long-term partnerships. Ultimately, the episode reinforces optimism that collaboration and shared interests will guide both regions forward.
Episode Transcript:
Welcome to this Global Trade Adventure, a World Trade Center, Kentucky podcast. We'll provide interviews, stories, tips, and advice for professionals actively engaged in global business or those ready to begin that journey. At the World Trade Center Kentucky, simply put, we grow trade. Let's join today's conversation.
Jim Ray:
And friends, welcome back to this episode of the podcast. We are broadcasting today from Lexington, Kentucky. We're back here at the World Trade Center Kentucky's headquarters, and I'm very proud to welcome once again to the podcast, David Brulotte, who is the Québec Delegate General in New York. So David, welcome back to Kentucky.
Delegate General Brulotte:
Thank you. Thanks Jim for having us.
Jim Ray:
Absolutely. Glad to have you here. And I know we actually had a long conversation back. We published it in May. It was Episode 24, and I'll put a link to that in the show notes. But you were back in Kentucky again, and this is part of a four-day junket coming down with your team. Your whole crew is here, and you guys are participating actually with a pretty interesting trade event, which we'll get involved with in a minute. But as we jump into this, do us a favor, kind of remind the listeners, and for those who may be listening for the first time, what is the role actually of the Delegate General of Québec in New York?
Delegate General Brulotte:
Sure. And thanks again, Jim, for having us on this episode again. It's always a great pleasure. Our role is fairly simple as representatives for the province of Québec is to defend the interest of the province in the US and promote our industries, our culture, our language, and just who we are as Québecers. Here in the US for our case in New York City, we cover the Mid-Atlantic region, which is a historical heritage of that office. That includes obviously a coverage of Kentucky where we're back for the second time in five months.
Jim Ray:
Outstanding.
Delegate General Brulotte:
So a great commitment to this day to the partners here. And maybe just for your audience to know, Québec has been represented in the US for 85 years this year.
The first official presence was indeed in New York City where our office and my then predecessors were a middle man, a middle office between the province of Québec's Ministry of Finance and Wall Street as Québec became then in 1940, the first foreign bond issuer on the markets in the US, something we still continue to do. We issue financial instrument bonds twice a year through our Ministry of Finance. Our team has grown substantially. We're about 30 colleagues now in our office focusing on trade and investment government relationships, culture as I mentioned, education and everything in between that Québec promotes on the international scene. We're part of a network of nine offices in the US with about a hundred colleagues across those offices all around the country. And this footprint is part of a global network only for the province of Québec that comprises 34 offices in 19 countries.
Jim Ray:
Outstanding. And I believe the last time we spoke, you were coming up on your one year anniversary in the role, and so now we're there. So congratulations to you.
Delegate General Brulotte:
That's right. Thank you.
Jim Ray:
So you've got Québec at 85 years and you at one year. That's right. So a little bit of catch up to do. You're going to do, okay, so let's jump in real quick on the event that you guys are down here attending. This is a trade event taking place in the Lexington area, right?
Delegate General Brulotte:
Correct. So the last time we came in May, I think it was our first trip for, in my case and some of my colleagues, we came in force with four of our team members on the government affairs side trade side. And we just had a wonderful, wonderful experience, not only on a personal level, but with the relationship that Québec has built here in Kentucky over decades in business and education and public affairs and cultural affairs. And so we thought we should come back more often on a regular basis to continue to build on those relationships. One of the segment or sector that was identified when we came the first time around was around industry manufacturing. Kentucky is very strong in that sector. We have a few companies from Québec that have a footprint here. Kruger is one of them in Elizabethtown. It's a box packaging company. They opened their brand new state-of-the-art facility a few years ago. They now hire hundreds of people there in Elizabethtown.
So with all of those examples of that relationship, we thought it'd be great to come back and be part of the Kentucky Industry Conference. So we met last time around with the Kentucky Association of Manufacturers, the Metals Innovation Initiative, the MI2 team. And after a couple meetings and conversations, we said, well, we should definitely come back to this particular event. And we're sponsors this year as well. So we have a few of our colleagues are here, a few of our companies. And the goal again is really to showcase, especially in the current context, just the proximity, the friendship between the Bluegrass State and Québec.
Jim Ray:
Well, I think it's interesting. Over the past couple of years now, we've done a number of podcast episodes with delegations who are coming down from Canada to engage, because a lot of people don't realize this. There is so much business in commerce that is done between Kentucky itself and the country of Canada, but also with Québec as you were saying. I believe in the last report I saw Canada exports just to Kentucky over $500 billion in products and services. And I think we're shipping back about $900 billion, but there's a lot, especially in automotive and aerospace and energy and some other areas, where things are coming back and forth. So sometimes that gets double counted, maybe. I don't know. But it's a tremendously strong financial relationship.
Delegate General Brulotte:
No, absolutely. You're right. And I think for over the last, let's say 10 months where the trade relationship has shifted quite a bit, to put it mildly, it's been our job and it's always been the core of our role and who we are, but it's been even more so the last 10 months just trying to go around the US in our different territories and different states that we cover through our offices and the network that we have here. And just try to highlight, showcase and put the spotlight on exactly what you referred to Jim, just the depth of our relationship, just how our economies, our communities are intertwined, including here in Kentucky. One of the several sectors that we have a vested shared interest is our export of aluminum, for example, to Kentucky. 90% of what Kentucky imports in primary aluminum comes from Canada, but most of the aluminum producing Canada is in Québec. Nine to 10 smelters are based in our province.
Jim Ray:
Is that because of the abundance of the clean energy? You guys do a lot of hydropower?
Delegate General Brulotte:
Correct. And we were on a panel this morning, and that's what I told folks, that Québec doesn't produce any bauxite, which is a primary ingredient for aluminum. But the investments that were made over the last decades by different companies, mostly American companies, Alcoa being one of them in Pittsburgh, but Japanese folks as well, as well as other Canadian partners in the aluminum sector, is because of the abundant, stable and cheap, green hydroelectricity that's all managed through Hydro-Québec, which is our sole utility in the province. And so we became over the years, the main exporter of aluminum to the US from a very stable, trustworthy partner in Canada, in Québec. And this is what we're trying to promote here again, as tariffs, for example, have been put in place on that particular sector, but there's so many more. I mean, you mentioned automotive, which is obviously key for different regions of Canada aerospace, which is extremely important for us. And I mean, the list goes on.
Jim Ray:
And I believe, if I'm not mistaken, in our previous episode we talked about both of us actually are standing up a Blue Oval SK battery plant that I think is going to be mutually beneficial for both of us. I think we'll be working together on that.
Delegate General Brulotte:
Yeah, absolutely correct. And I mean, again, there's several sectors where that integration has been around has been consistently strong over decades and then for future projects as well. So it's one of the reasons why we decided to join and sponsor the conference this year is not only for us and our companies to be showcased and seen, but also to once again, especially be there to listen to companies here in Kentucky and across the US on what their relationship with their perceived relationship with Québec and Canada is. And we're trying to address some of the questions that they may have. And again, everyone we've met either this morning, yesterday on our previous trip is very enthusiastic about maintaining their relationship, especially on the business level, even with the challenges that some of the tariffs bring obviously to Canada, but also to the US. We've met Kentucky companies who said, well, I've had to change my shifts in the company. We only do two shifts out of three, or we haven't let go of anyone yet, but this might happen depending the future of tariffs. I think the uncertainty, and I'll finish on this, the uncertainty that we are thrown into right now is what is most worrying for companies and our presence here is to once again showcase that we are here as a government, we're here as partners, as friends, and we'll continue to be there for Kentucky.
Jim Ray:
Well, I think that's a big part of it, and I love the approach because I've got a long background in sales, sales management, and there are always going to be bumps in the road, but during those times, it's important to show face to go sit down with your client, go sit down with those business relationships and talk through the issues rather than, okay, you go to your respective corner, I'll go to my corner. And between Kentucky and Canada, it's pretty vast, but it's nice to be able to sit down across the table and just talk and try to figure it out and look for ways, because obviously this is all occurring at the federal level, but for us at the state level, the Commonwealth has a lot to risk. I mean, we've got a lot of investment with Canada. We've got a lot of jobs that are really related to the commerce we do between Kentucky and Canada alone. And so hopefully at some point being able to move past this, but at the same time to maintain those relationships so that when the cracks and the opportunities finally appear, we can fully take advantage of them and not having lost time with the relationship. And I think this is, again, it's wonderful to have you all down for the second time this year.
Delegate General Brulotte:
Absolutely. And one point you alluded to, which is music to my ears and our ears from as Québec, as Québecois in the US, the sub-national relationships that Québec have built over the years is front and center of our international presence. Canada is a very decentralized jurisdictions, provinces like states in the US have various degrees of powers across different sectors. Our view and the view that the government of Québec has had for decades is that on the international scene, the jurisdictions that we control back home, we can promote internationally on the global stage. And so we became over the years, a very strong advocate of sub-national diplomacy. We still work with the government of Canada obviously on several issues including trade negotiations. But over the last years, but even more so the last months, we've really seen that interest, I would say by state leaders, governors, secretaries, across the different states that we cover this interest to renew, to grow that sub-national relationship between the states and the province of Québec and other provinces. We work with our colleagues from Ontario, from Alberta, from BC, and other provinces of Canada that have interest and teams here in the US. So that particular aspect of Québec's presence, and I mentioned the vast network that we have internationally is something that's really core to how we do international relations as a province. And I have to say that…
Jim Ray:
And that's really kind of interesting, international relations as a province. Correct. So again, this whole sub-national thing that we're talking about the theme, but it's really interesting to see you stepping out and actually saying it that way. That makes a lot of sense.
Delegate General Brulotte:
And we've been saying this for years, it just seems more, not more relevant, but it seems more front and center right now because the conversations at the federal are impacting the provinces and states, but there's also a lot we can do on our own as international entities that are represented. And we've had fantastic reception in the US over the last months and over the last years. We've welcomed just on top of mind in Montreal and Québec City over the last, let's say year Governor Murphy of New Jersey, governor Cox of Utah, governor Lombardo of Nevada. We just had the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence meetings in Québec City, Governor Hochul, Governor Whitmer, Governor Shapiro were there. I met with Governor Beshear yesterday morning with our team. We're meeting with several secretaries from his team as well. And the conversation is always extremely positive. And as you've heard, it's governors from both side of the aisles. They want to continue that relationship. They know that they have constituents that are employees of Canadian companies, of Québec-based companies. They have companies within their jurisdictions that deal with Canada on a daily basis. And I mean, we could go on through dozens of pages of stats on how intertwined our relationship is and our presence here is one again, is testimony of how we see this too.
Jim Ray:
Outstanding. So to bring an entire crew down for the event, a multi-day event, I mean, it's quite the investment. What's your outlook on the activity? Was it definitely worth it? It seems like you guys are getting around to have some really, really strategic meeting.
Delegate General Brulotte:
Yeah, it's a busy day, and that's thanks to Taylor and my team and Paul Thomas and others and our team in New York. We also have someone from our Chicago office, Abigail, who's with us, who's our sort of specialist and automotive, mining, and aluminum.
So it's a really team effort this time around. We collaborate very closely, obviously between our offices. The event has been great. The main day’s today. But the meetings and the conversations that we've had either on our panel this morning on tariffs and navigating the future of tariffs with the governor yesterday, very, very positive. Now probably sound like the guy whose glasses are full rather than half empty. But the businesses that actually have a vested financial interest in this are seeing challenges, but they're betting on the long-term game that we’ll get through this together and we'll adapt will evolve and we'll continue to do business together.
Jim Ray:
I think that's a strong play. This is a discussion that's going on yet, does it have serious ramifications? Yes, yes. But at some point we'll reach an agreement and we will continue forward. It may be a little different, but for the most part we'll continue to move forward too strong, both of us together, not to. I mean, when you look at our hemisphere, it makes sense that the US and Canada would joined much more closely and let's move forward into the future.
Delegate General Brulotte:
You're right. Having said this, I mean the impacts in Canada, and I can only speak for the province of Québec, have been drastic and very fast to happen because of some of the tariffs that are sector-based, may that have been trucking tariffs that happened a few days ago, a few weeks ago, major companies in Québec already laid off hundreds of colleagues. That's one example. But the tariffs that sector-based tariffs have already had a very serious impact in Canada and Québec and in the US frankly. So we're hoping that we get to some type of deal rather sooner than later.
Jim Ray:
Well, let me ask you this. In your role as the Delegate General, do you have back-channel communications to the federal level of Canada to say, Hey, this is what we're hearing and this is what we're feeling? I would think they already have connections at the provincial level to know what the impact is here. So I mean, I would think you were fairly active in those discussions.
Delegate General Brulotte:
So again, our role, especially in New York and the eight other offices outside Washington, DC is really the sub-national level. Obviously. We meet with federal elected officials from our states that represent the states they're from in DC. Our office in DC deals with federal affairs, and we again collaborate extremely closely between our offices. We relay the information we hear on the ground either from companies, stakeholders, industry associations like the Kentucky Industry Conference partners, and we bring this back up to Québec City, our capital city, the province of Québec. Obviously negotiations are taking place between our government and the government of Canada in Ottawa and Prime Minister Carney's team, and similarly between our offices and the consulate generals on our territories and the embassy in our office in DC.
So yes, we do channel information back and forth. Our role is really to be on the ground with our partners, especially for our New York office, and hear what they have to say, continue to help them and help mitigate as much as possible the impact of tariffs for the ones that reach out to us to do so.
Jim Ray:
And I would think that's going to be such a welcome advocacy for the Canadian companies that have a presence here or have a large commercial interest here. I mean, knowing that you and your team are here actively engaging. I mean, sometimes it's just, it's nice to know, hey, somebody else is in the fight with us.
Delegate General Brulotte:
Right. And we can aggregate examples and data together, which at first seemed to be sort of sporadic, anecdotal examples, but after a few weeks and months, we've been able to see all the impact in this sector is very significant because of these three rules or tariffs or decisions that were made in the federal level. And as I always say, half joking, half serious, is that for the last, I've been in this line of work for the last 15, 16 years, 17 years now, for most of those 15 years up to January of this year, I guess most of my friends and family had an idea of what being a diplomat meant. Since January, they really understand what it means to be boots on the ground, talk to clients and navigate what is a very challenging episode for the Canada-US relationship. And companies are grateful to have someone on the ground who can obviously not change things from day one, but be there to support their efforts.
Jim Ray:
Yeah, to influence and hopefully help arrive there. I would imagine these days your days are slightly longer than maybe they used to be in previous years.
Delegate General Brulotte:
They've always been a very substantially packed, but yeah, they're interesting and forever changing, that's for sure.
Jim Ray:
That makes sense. Well, let me ask you this. As you look forward, I mean, where do you see the opportunities going forward? I mean, do you see this settling down in the short-term in the mid-term? Is it more of a longer term? Let's see what happens?
Delegate General Brulotte:
You tell me, Jim, I'm not sure. It depends on the day sometimes. So obviously the volatility, the uncertainty is what creates a lot of chaos for our businesses in terms of planning and capex investment planning and growth opportunities and so on and so forth.
Jim Ray:
We talked about that a little bit in the previous. That's right, that's right. Is that when you are a business on either side of the border and you're looking at making capex investments, I mean it just really, really, it's hard to plan. You just don't know what the landscape's going to be. You commit those millions of dollars suddenly, uh-oh, the whole plan shifted and we can’t get that money back. So yeah, it's nerve wracking.
Delegate General Brulotte:
That's what most of our clients and the business partners mentioned is just the desire to have more stability. If that's with there, if that's unfortunate, but at least there's some visibility on the future, ideally be back to some form of USMCA that's being renegotiated, as we speak, more or less.
But truth is, there are opportunities. One of them is, let's say two of them. One is defense. It's obviously a federal, I talked about jurisdictions defense is a federal jurisdiction. Prime Minister Mark Carney, has announced a massive reinvestment in the defense sector to the tune of only for this year to reach our 2% of GDP spent on defense and extra $9 billion to be spent before the end of the fiscal year, which is end of March of 2026. Now, this is a great opportunity not only for our businesses, but for the just general overall partnership that we have with DOD through NORAD and other mechanisms that Canada has with the US for very significant investments in that field. For us in Québec, it touches on the various fields of defense, but also aerospace innovation and so on, so forth.
Boeing just announced or confirmed rather a couple of weeks ago, early October, their investment in Montreal in the Arrow Montreal cluster of $80 million, which is an offset from the P9 contract that they won through the government of Canada, a few, well last year, a few months ago. So there are opportunities. One other example, and I mean we could probably mention a few others, but is critical minerals critical and strategic minerals. So Québec has abundant resources in our soil. We have a long history of mining in Québec and in Canada. So we think this is something that's a great opportunity for the future of the relationship with the US. We collectively import most of all this right now from China, and we think that there's an opportunity to diversify outside of China. They control 70-ish percent of the market, for example, in rare earth and other critical elements. And Québec is just right next door, stable jurisdiction, legal environment, long history of mining and investment in the sectors. We believe this is something that we can build with the US in the strategic alliance.
Jim Ray:
And that's the perfect word for it. This is strategic alliance. I think as I look at the macro, what's going on is we're just trying to really shore up our capabilities domestically and by extension North American defenses. Does Canada have the capacity to do the processing of the rare earth minerals when it comes out? I know that's something that's been, I'm just now starting to learn about this where, okay, yes you can. You can find the rare, it's not all that rare, but that's what we call it. You can find it, but the actual processing is a very, very nasty kind of business.
Delegate General Brulotte:
It's very costly engagement and investment by partners and what China's been doing. And again, to your point, I'm no expert, but from my understanding of this sector, the commitment to environmental standards to labor rights is different. Let's put it this way, that what China seems to be putting forward and what we are doing in the mining industry in North America, you're right, processing is a risky business in terms of investment perspective. It's a long-term engagement and there's not much processing in critical minerals right now in Québec core across the North American market from what I'm aware of. And I think, again, that's kind of our message too, is we know we have this potential capacity. Let's work together with off-takers here in the US financiers our commitment and engagement in the sector as well. And let's look at potential opportunities in the sector to reaffirm the strength of that sector in North America.
Jim Ray:
Well, it's interesting as we look at the strategic with the uncertainty being what it is, I mean, nobody's moving forward necessarily with the commitment of dollars that come behind it. And I think that's going to slow us down a little bit. We're losing that momentum. And I think right now, I think a lot of us are realizing, you know what? We need to get moving on this. And until all of this really settles out, I mean, we may lose several months to a year or more trying to get this thing to settle down and get back to where we need to be. But it's definitely great to see you again. I'm very glad that you guys are down here with the team again, and thanks for the sponsorship of the event. That's not something that World Trade Center necessarily involved with at this event, but it's wonderful to see you guys showing up in force and saying, okay, let's talk. Because again, from my background, it all starts there and a lot of problems don't get worked out unless you can sit across the table and actually had those frank conversations among friends.
Delegate General Brulotte:
Yeah, you’re absolutely right. And again, our goal is really to be visible, to be here, to show not only our commitment to the commonwealth and to our stakeholders, partners and friends here, but also explain what's going on in Québec and in Canada in our friends and families and businesses minds. There's great worry, there's great apprehension of what's happening here in the us, but there's this whole underlying, I think, reality that people know we've been friends, we've been communities together for decades. That will continue. We'll be back as well. I've been joking that it's our second trip in Kentucky in a little while, but last time we missed the Derby by a day and we just missed Keeneland by two days. So we have to make amends and come back in the spring for the spring meet.
Jim Ray:
We’ve got these things called website we need to coordinate.
Delegate General Brulotte:
That’s right, that's right. It's a combination of timing and opportunity. But yes, we've been invited to Keeneland and the Derby for 2026, so we shall come back to do business, meet our friends, but also participate in some of the flagship events that the state has.
Jim Ray:
And just have a good time. I mean, of all this is when it seems all of the Bluegrass tends to shine during these peak events like that. So you're going to be very welcome back when you arrive and appreciate. Yeah, you'll be among friends as always. So David Brulotte, I really appreciate your time. Thanks for giving us some time on the busiest day of the conference, and yet you came over to do a 30-minute podcast.
Delegate General Brulotte:
No, no, of course. I think it's important to have a fantastic conversation with you. Hopefully your audience appreciates this, but we'll be back and let's do this again, Jim, thanks again for having us.
Jim Ray:
Looking forward it.
Delegate General Brulotte:
Likewise.
Jim Ray:
Absolutely. Friends, I hope you found that conversation interesting. There's a lot swirling, and depending on all the news that you're taking in, depending on what you're hearing from different people, it is hard to understand what actually happens. And once again, that's the value of sitting down between the two parties and just having good conversations. I think it adds clarity to the situation, and it adds, in this case kind of a feeling of hope that, yep, we're going to move past this. We're eventually going to shake hands on this and move forward quickly. Because I think when you look at the world right now, things are a little hectic, a little crazy. It'll be nice to know we've got good friends at our sides and that together we're much stronger than we were apart.
So once again, thank you very much for listening, and if your business is getting ready to explore doing commerce on a global scale, just remember the World Trade Center, Kentucky connects businesses globally.
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