Canada’s premiers and territorial leaders are off to Washington this week to highlight the country’s important trade relationship with the United States.

Business, labour and politicians gathered in Toronto last week as part of a Canada-US Economic Trade Summit in which the importance of eliminating interprovincial trade barriers and diversifying markets for Canadian goods were among the key areas of discussion.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed the question of economic diversification in Toronto on Friday just prior to meetings with European leaders.

“Making sure we’re taking advantage of the incredible trade deals Canada has signed – most of them over the past nine years with two-thirds of the global economy.” He says “it’s not enough to just sign a trade deal, we actually then have to follow-up on it, with trade missions.”