The lights are on, the cameras are rolling, and the crowd has taken their seats. The packed dining hall waits as four international trade experts are welcomed onto the stage by their host.

A recent iPoliticsLIVE event held in Ottawa, Canada, June 20 brought together industry experts to discuss current and future challenges facing Canadian businesses engaging in international trade.

Canada has a long history as a trading nation. But with a shifting trade landscape, what barriers will exist for Canadian exporters moving forward? This, along with questions on NAFTA and Canada’s relationship with China, were just some of key highlights from this discussion.

Catherine Clark, of Catherine Clark Communications, moderates the ‘Barriers to Growth’ panel and welcomes each of the panelists as they take their seats.

Mark Warner and Peter Clark, experts in international trade law, took their seats to the left of the stage as Bodhi Ganguli and Alexander Malaket, CITP, experts in international trade finance, took their seats to the right.

When the panelists settled in, the titular question of the discussion is brought forward.

What, in your opinion, is the biggest barrier to trade growth?

After a moment of thought, each panelist is given an opportunity to answer. The panelists cited protectionism and risk as the key barriers slowing Canadian businesses entry into international markets.

“The two biggest barriers to trade right now are protectionism as well as limits to domestic imagination,” said Mark Warner, Canadian American trade lawyer for MAAW Law. “We need to open up to new markets but we also must get more imaginative with the markets we are already engaged with.”

“Mindset is a barrier,” said Alexander Malaket, CITP, Founder and CEO Opus International Advisory Group, Director.

More education is needed to better prepare professionals for the international marketplace. Trade will always happen. Companies will figure out how to make deals with each other. Education is the key to preparing people to make those deals.”

“The benefits of global trade are far-reaching,” said Bodhi Ganguli, Lead Economist for Dun & Bradstreet’s Country Risk Services. “But the losses are very concentrated. That is a barrier facing Canadian growth.”

“The biggest barrier, in my opinion, is protectionism,” said Peter Clark, President of Grey, Clark, Shih, and Associates Limited. “The U.S. is Canada’s biggest trading partner and all signs are pointing to a modernization of the NAFTA agreement. This will be a barrier moving forward.”

With the topic of NAFTA now brought up, the first of the audience questions prompted the panelists for their thoughts on the subject. With such uncertainty regarding just how extensive the renegotiation would be, attendees wanted to hear the expert’s insights.

What can we expect in upcoming NAFTA negotiations?

“Nobody knows what’s going to happen,” said Clark. “America sees NAFTA as Canada taking. They want it to be a more give and take relationship. For the U.S., NAFTA must be a rebalancing of the scales.”

“NAFTA has been tweaked before,” Clark continued. “What we need to know now is if this will be a tweak like before or a complete renegotiation.”

“NAFTA won’t happen in a vacuum,” said Ganguli. “There is a global move away from multi-lateral trade to bi-lateral trade. Despite this current trend though, globalization isn’t going away. Product lines are now global. Consumers are now global.”

NAFTA needs to be a fact-based discussion,” added in Warner. “To showcase the benefits of NAFTA, we need to start laying the groundwork at home. We need to not just be promoting its benefits to the U.S., but to Canada as well. We need to expand our domestic imagination.”

“We need to consider the long-term nature of the Canada – U.S. relationship as well,” said Malaket. “Trade exports are extremely important to Canada.”

Are Canadian businesses prepared to do business with China?

Next the discussion dove into the practical challenges of doing business in China. Judging from the panelists answers, it was clear doing business with China will be a learn-while-we-go situation.

“How do we trade with China?” asked Warner. “Businesses have little to no experience working in China. Businesses need to be allowed to try and fail over and over, in order to find success.”

“More education would prepare businesses,” added Malaket.

“While education will always be needed,” said Ganguli. “Supply chains are always improving. They will always move faster than education. A shift in how we do things will be needed.”

Should Canada be diversifying its trade partners?

Given the recent political turmoil in the United States, there has been a great deal of uncertainty regarding Canada’s future dealings with its biggest trade partner. The audience leaned in to get the experts’ take on Canada’s trade future. The panelists recommended expanding Canada’s trading partners, touching on how to best work with the U.S. moving forward, and how Canada should approach its exports.

“You can’t get talent for free. If you want more Canadians working in the U.S., Canada has to give the Americans something. We have to give if we want to get,” said Warner.

“There is an inherent laziness because Canada has always relied on the U.S.,” said Malaket. “We need to diversify our partners, if we want to grow. There are tremendous opportunities beyond America.”

“Canada should absolutely be diversifying in terms of partners. When picking new partners, a trade credit is one way to show if one country is a better option than another,” said Ganguli. “The more data you have, the more strategic you can be. Businesses need to be factual and be agile.”

We need a major shift in Canadian policy in terms of agriculture,” said Clark. “We need to be supporting farmers to be exporting to other countries. There is a great potential and the opportunity for the Canadian agriculture sector.”

Do Canadian companies have all the tools they need to be successful in the global market?

The discussion panel ended by shedding a light on the deficits Canadian businesses are facing moving forward. Drawing on their expertise, Ganguli and Malaket offered their advice for Canadian businesses.

“Canadian companies need to be strategic,” said Ganguli. “And the way they can do that is by collecting information. The more data you have, the more proactive you can be at starting a growth strategy.”

“Financing is also an issue,” added Malaket. “A lack of financing is the most difficult issue exporters face, especially in the services sector.”

With that, the panel discussion comes to an end. The topics covered in this brief but ambitious discussion reflected the changes already upsetting the status quo for Canadian trade and businesses. Outside forces are pushing Canada to be more creative and strategic in taking advantage of all the global opportunities available to Canadian businesses.

What do you think? How prepared is Canada for the coming changes in international trade? Let us know in the comments down below.

The post Can Canada compete in the global market? The experts weigh in appeared first on Trade Ready.

Built into a career in international trade is the need to travel to visit suppliers or establish relationships with clients. Those who have been in international business for some time have often racked up more than a few frequent flyer miles. Here, we’ve gathered the most useful travel tips straight from those who have been all over the world and have learned a thing or two about jet-setting with style and wisdom.

1. Prepare for the high altitude

You know you need to prepare for different climates: cold, hot, humid, and changeable. Now, have you also factored in altitude?

Don’t just check the weather forecast when traveling to Latin America, also check the altitude you’ll be working at.

The higher up you go (think Bogotá, La Paz, Quito and other cities), the more time you need for adjusting. Don’t schedule meetings for soon after you’ve arrived. Believe me, unless you’re very used to it in your home country, you’ll struggle.

You will very likely feel very tired, at the very least – imagine an appalling jetlag or some mighty hangover! Some people feel nauseous, too, dizzy, or very exhausted. Running up the stairs is a total no-no, it will totally deplete you of energy.

I don’t suffer too heavily from these symptoms but have traveled with people that do, some of whom are young and otherwise very healthy and fit. Keep hydrated. Take it easy and give your body time to adapt. As I said, do check the height. 1,000 meters above sea level might not do you any harm, but at 2,000 meters some people struggle and above 3,000 meters we’re all in for some experience…

By the way, remember that if you open a tube of cream/gel/toothpaste at high altitude, the whole thing will come out very quickly (as it happens on a plane), so watch out! I lost half a tube of newly-bought foundation due to this mistake!” – Gabriela Castro-Fontoura

2. Being a gratuitous host has a big impact on the bottom line

“I was very happy when I convinced a West African delegation of business-people to come to visit a company I was working at in a suburb of Montreal. My plan was for this delegation to meet the management team and some key employees, and show them the large inventory of products ready to export.

I decided to rent a minibus and drive them through the city to the meeting, taking on the role of travel guide at the same time. I was thrilled that they were impressed and had a great time. It turns out that I had created demand for my impromptu tours. The day after the visit, some of the visitors wanted to return to the company, and the new people were also interested. Happily, I played the travel guide once again. Afterwards, they purchased containers of our products!

By adding some extra fun to their travel experience and accommodating their request, I was able to ensure their trip was a great success for all parties involved.

After the success of this visit, we decided to pay them a reciprocal visit to their country in Africa, to continue developing the relationships and the business. These experiences have all taught me valuable lessons, so I hope you found them useful. And I hope you’ll pass on your own stories as well.” – Sylvain Charbonneau, CITP|FIBP

3. Know the culture your heading into

“I was presenting some new diagnostic test to the OBGYN in one of the Universities in Seoul, and was attempting to set up a “trial to buy” at this facility. After we had gone through a long presentation and Q&A session, I came to my close.

After asking “Can we set up a trial later this week, as I am in Seoul until then?”, the assistant professor got up and simply said excuse me and left the office!

We stayed for an hour expecting him back but Ricky, my distributor colleague, advised me than perhaps the customer could not say “no” to performing a trail without losing face, since I would be embarrassed, and he would have been the cause of it. So we left, no trial no sale!

Nowadays in Korea and sometimes Japan, I have to be a bit more subtle with my closing technique, for example I ask if the customer can consider our request for a trial.

Moral: Don’t be a wise ass. Understand cultural etiquette before making closing statements.” – Samir Patel 

4. There are lots of ways to stay connected

“If you’ve done a lot of business traveling, odds are you have paid for roaming on your phone before. Paying your phone company for the ability to access another network and continue your regular phone, text, and data plan internationally can be very useful, but also expensive, depending on where you live and which phone carrier you use.

Before traveling, make sure you research to discover what your roaming charges would be and think about how you want and need to stay in communication, to decide whether paying for roaming charges is the best option for your situation.” – Bennett O’Brien

5. Learn to enjoy the moment when things don’t go as planned

“The art of travel links closely to personal approach and style: politeness goes a very long way and can help resolve what might seem at first like an insurmountable logistical challenge; fits of anger, impatience or arrogance will inevitably exacerbate any issue you might be facing ‘en route’, and you have a great deal of influence on the way you react to a situation.

Delayed train in London as you are heading to Heathrow for a flight across the pond? Don’t worry, sip a nicely chilled Bollinger at the champagne bar at Paddington Station (what else would one order, but a favorite of James Bond when in the UK?)

Delayed connection to Singapore from Tokyo on a first (quick) stop in Japan? No worries, the sushi at Narita is far better than what can be found in some reputable restaurants in Canada, and you may even have an opportunity to learn to appreciate the delicate flavours of cold sake: Kampai! It can get even better when the unexpected small pleasure is topped off with a courtesy upgrade for the next leg of the trip.” – Alexander R. Malaket, CITP|FIBP

There you have the top five tips for traveling, straight from the experts, but it’s really just the tip of the iceberg.

Was this advice helpful? What tips do you have for when you’re traveling? Let us know in the comments down below.

The post Top 5 travel tips straight from the experts appeared first on Trade Ready.

Back in 2013 when I joined FITT, we had a social media community of about 3,000 users. Little more than a year later, that community of global trade experts is now at 11,000…and growing fast.

How did we do it? Or to put it more accurately, how did you, the members of our community, make this happen?

Well, with people as passionate about international trade as all of you, it was only a matter of time. Your generous support for our community shines through on all of FITT’s social feeds and digital outposts.

Your amazing words of wisdom on global trade topics are a mainstay on our Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pages.

Showcasing a goldmine of international trade expertise

Here at FITT, we just love showcasing the knowledge and experience of our community of global trade experts. We built the TradeReady.ca publication so we could start leveraging the opportunity to present this goldmine of international business experiences and stories from our community of trade experts.

This publication started with two paid writers and now has over 30 authors who voluntarily contribute their time, tips and ideas to help the global trade community.

As you can imagine, the thought-leadership demonstrated by our expert authors has attracted readers from all around the world, increasing the overall reach of our network. We hope that even more of you take advantage of this opportunity to connect with and reach out to our rapidly growing community of global trade professionals.

Your insightful posts on our LinkedIn groups (FITT, CITP), Facebook page and Twitter stream bear testimony to the  valuable support and expertise you already provide to your peers in international trade!

A global trade community of early adopters of technology

You’ve also played a huge role in helping us roll out our own global trade application—TradeEliteClub.com. As you continue to discuss relevant international trade topics and grow your ranking on this app, all of us here at FITT are committed to providing you with even more tools and resources that will empower your success as the elite of global trade.

You’ll soon be able to access the iOS and Android versions of the app. We envision you using it to access the database we develop from the pioneering International Trade Competency Standards project.

Coming together to lead global trade standards

Your participation in the International Trade Competency Standards has helped get FITT on Times Square!

Of course, that isn’t all. In focus groups around the country, your excitement and passion for international trade is laying the groundwork for what will be the go-to global framework for international trade competencies. As part of this effort, we are tying up with like-minded global trade educational leaders around the world to set international standards based on these competencies.

Coming together as a community toward this far-reaching effort will redefine how companies across the world address international business challenges by adequately identifying the knowledge, skills and abilities required for trade success.

The ICS focus groups have also spawned casual Meetups, like the Vancouver, Niagara and Ottawa Meetup groups of global trade enthusiasts. Do let us know if you’re interested in organizing one of these Meetups in your own city!

Global trade knowledge in 140 characters

You’ve made our monthly Twitter chats an event to look forward to on the first Thursday of every month. The useful, insightful and rapid fire global trade information you provide during these chats displays how success in global business depends upon an understanding of the subtleties of your field. These events are a pleasure for us at FITT to help facilitate.

Q4 Are we getting to a point where prioritizing GREEN makes commercial sense? If so, yes! #TradeElite

— Alexander R. Malaket (@ARMalaket_OPUS) December 4, 2014

A4: Yes they should. Collaboration on environmental issues and planning to minimize the use of energy. #tradeelite

— Louei Ali, MBA (@LoueiAli) December 4, 2014

@LyndaEllenA I think as trade barriers break down, companies will continue to evolve to take advantage of their FDI locations #TradeElite

— Becky Park DeStigter (@intlentreprenr) November 6, 2014

A5: business is done between people. technology that enhances that is valuable, but can’t substitute #tradeelite

— Ed Marsh (@edbmarsh) October 2, 2014

@globethoughts Do the full research needed to mitigate risk and protect margines. @FITTNews #TradeElite

— John Treleaven CITP (@jht4x4) July 3, 2014

It’s inspiring to see experienced professionals like John Treleaven using his 140 character might to such great affect. What’s also wonderful is that John, Alexander and Alberto also sit on our board of directors. How many organizations do you know of that have board members who are actively involved in their social-media community building?

Working with you to break new ground in 2015!

Shout out to our most engaged community members. Thank you for keeping the global trade conversation going!

Abed Rabbo Ahmad,
Albert Aguirre,
Alexander R.Malaket,
Andy Roo,
Astrik Avagyan Tupikova,
Audrey Ross,
Becky DeStigter,
Brian Dakers,
Callum Makkai,
Cerasis,
Christian Höferle,
Craig Atkinson,
Daniel Vaugeois,
David Mark Noah,
David W.Weaver,
Doug Taylor,
Ed Marsh,
Emiliano Introcaso,
Eyes on Freight,
Export Development Canada,
Fadi Ghaby,
Gabriela Castro-Fontoura,
Geunwoo Ryu,
Giovanni Gonzalez,
Hernan Cortez,
iBiz247,
Icecorp Logistics,
Jim Feir,
John Treleavean,
John Boscariol,
Justin Bedi,
Kim Stuart,
Laurel Delaney,
Liesl Harewood,
Louei Ali,
Lynda Arsenault,
Mariette Mulaire,
Michael Muhich,
Mike Au,
Mike Strawson,
Nova Scotia Business Inc.,
Rany Ibrahim,
Rick Feltenberger,
Rob Gnaedinger,
Robin MacNab,
Ronan Caillo,
Ryan Weaver,
Sara Haq,
Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership,
Sergio A. Rodr¡guez S.,
Siddha Param,
Susan Vaughan,
Susan Yovic Hoeller,
Virginie de Visscher,

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With such a vibrant, growing community, we may be tempted to conclude that this is as good as it gets. However, we at FITT are sure that the best is yet to come.

Relatively new community members from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the rest of the globe are sure to make their presence felt further.  In fact we’re already seeing the impact our American friends are having on our Twitter chats and on Tradeready.ca.

We look forward to working with this growing network of international trade professionals as we continue to address global trade challenges in 2015.

Our plans for our own social media platform (TradeEliteClub.com) for the global trade community and our growing community across social media channels like Tradeready.ca, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn will provide even more motivations for you all to continue to participate and grow your network.

Do let us know if you have any ideas for how we can continue to grow and create value for you, our community of elite trade professionals.

From all of us at FITT, a BIG ‘Thank You’ for making all this happen!

The post Celebrating you! The international trade community appeared first on Trade Ready.