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Eyes on Asia
Why Nova Scotia has good reason to strengthen economic ties with China
IN APRIL, the Nova Scotia government released its Nova Scotia-China engagement strategy.
The initiative is long overdue, as the Middle Kingdom has quietly become Nova Scotia’s second largest trading partner. In 2015, exports from Nova Scotia to China were $420 million, up a whopping 50 per cent from 2014. The United States still remains the province’s largest trading partner by far (Nova Scotia exports to the U.S. were $3.75 billion in 2015), but the fact is Nova Scotia exports to China have grown substantially in a short time. As recently 2009, Nova Scotia’s exports to China were a mere $54 million.
There’s certainly room for more growth in trade. China has 1.3 billion people, and it’s estimated that more than 30 million Chinese join the middle class each year. Many of the country’s growing middle class are looking to spend their newfound wealth on high value goods and services. Hopefully Nova Scotia’s engagement strategy focuses on diversification, because the province’s exports to China are heavily weighted towards two products.
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