U.S. Ambassador Heads to Edmonton as Danielle Smith Puts Energy and Trade at Centre of Cross-Border Summit

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At a moment when North American trade rules are again under strain, Edmonton has become a meeting place for the people who still have to make the cross-border economy work. U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra is joining Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and hundreds of political, business, Indigenous and industry leaders at the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region’s 35th annual summit, running July 19 to 23.

Smith is putting energy security, trade corridors and investment at the centre of Alberta’s message. Hoekstra, meanwhile, is arguing that Alberta and Saskatchewan can help satisfy a major increase in U.S. oil demand over the next decade. The summit will not settle every dispute between Ottawa and Washington, but it provides western provinces and states with a practical forum to discuss the pipelines, border systems, power connections and commercial relationships that keep the continent’s economy moving.

Edmonton Becomes a Cross-Border Meeting Ground

The PNWER summit is not simply another political conference built around speeches and handshakes. The organization brings together five U.S. states—Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington—with Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Yukon and the Northwest Territories. More than 500 public- and private-sector leaders are expected in Edmonton, including lawmakers, industry executives, Indigenous representatives, academics and local officials. Its 2026 theme emphasizes cross-border cooperation, trade and innovation, with sessions devoted to free trade, economic corridors, energy infrastructure, border technology, agriculture, tourism, artificial intelligence and natural-resource development.

Edmonton also gives delegates a close look at the scale behind Alberta’s pitch. Summit tours include Alberta’s Industrial Heartland, a cluster northeast of the city with more than 40 companies and roughly $50 billion in capital investment, as well as energy-research facilities at the University of Alberta and hydrogen infrastructure near the airport. Legislators can also visit Cenovus’s Christina Lake operation, which produces about 400,000 barrels of crude per day. Those stops turn abstract policy discussions into visible projects, jobs and supply chains.

Hoekstra Makes the Oil Demand Case

Hoekstra’s most attention-grabbing message is that the United States may need an additional three to four million barrels of oil per day over the next decade. He has said Alberta and Saskatchewan can make one of the strongest cases for supplying that growth, placing western Canadian energy directly inside Washington’s broader discussion about security, affordability and industrial expansion. The argument matters because it shifts the conversation from whether the United States needs Canadian oil to how much more it could need, and what infrastructure would be required to move it.

The existing numbers already show deep dependence. Canada exported an average of 4.3 million barrels of crude per day in 2025, with about 3.9 million barrels going to the United States. Canadian supply accounted for 63.4 per cent of all crude oil imported by the U.S. that year. That oil is especially important to refineries in the American Midwest and Gulf Coast, many of which can process heavier Canadian grades. For workers and communities built around those facilities, Alberta’s barrels are not an abstract trade statistic; they are part of the daily operating rhythm of refineries, pipelines, rail terminals and fuel-distribution networks.

Trade Numbers Give Smith Real Leverage

Smith enters the summit with a straightforward economic argument: Alberta is already one of the United States’ largest and most reliable commercial partners. Alberta government figures put two-way trade with the U.S. at more than C$152 billion in 2025, while 85.7 per cent of the province’s exports went south of the border. Energy products accounted for approximately C$125 billion, or more than four-fifths of Alberta’s exports to the American market. The province also estimates that trade with Alberta supports roughly 904,000 U.S. jobs, reflecting activity in refining, transportation, manufacturing, agriculture, construction and business services.

The PNWER relationship is narrower but still meaningful. Smith said the organization’s five U.S. member states accounted for more than C$18 billion in bilateral trade with Alberta last year. That helps explain why state and provincial officials keep meeting even when national politics become tense. A manufacturer in Washington, a rancher in Montana or a refinery supplier in the Midwest may experience trade policy as delayed parts, higher input costs or cancelled orders. Smith’s goal is to translate those local consequences into political support for fewer barriers and more predictable cross-border rules.

Pipelines Make the Relationship Hard to Unwind

The Canada-U.S. energy relationship is held together by physical systems that cannot be redirected with a press release. Dozens of pipelines move crude oil, natural gas, natural gas liquids and refined products across the border, while 86 international power lines connect provincial and state electricity grids. Alberta alone exported 3.81 million barrels of crude per day in 2024, representing 91 per cent of Canada’s total oil exports. Of the Canadian crude shipped to the United States that year, 2.47 million barrels per day went to the Midwest petroleum district.

That infrastructure creates both strength and vulnerability. It gives American refiners access to a secure continental supplier and gives Alberta producers a vast, nearby customer. At the same time, fixed pipeline routes make sudden diversification difficult. The Canada Energy Regulator has noted that the United States remains the main destination because so much existing capacity already points south. A refinery manager cannot replace millions of barrels of suitable feedstock overnight, and an Alberta producer cannot instantly reroute the same volume to Asia or Europe. That reality makes stable policy valuable on both sides.

The Summit Arrives at a Difficult Trade Moment

The Edmonton gathering is taking place only weeks after the United States declined to renew the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement in its current form during the pact’s first six-year review on July 1. The decision did not terminate CUSMA immediately, but it began a process that could leave the agreement to expire in 2036 unless the three countries agree on changes. Canada has said it wants continued negotiations, including talks aimed at removing U.S. sectoral tariffs affecting Canadian steel, aluminum, autos and lumber.

The political temperature has risen further because U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said formal negotiations with Canada had not yet begun, despite weekly discussions, and argued that Ottawa had not offered the concessions Washington wants. That uncertainty hangs over a commercial relationship in which approximately C$3.5 billion in goods and services crossed the border each day in 2025. Against that backdrop, PNWER offers a different kind of diplomacy: governors, premiers, legislators and businesses can identify shared interests even while national negotiators remain divided over tariffs, deficits and rules of origin.

Smith’s Strategy Relies on State-Level Relationships

The summit fits a broader Alberta strategy of building support inside the United States rather than waiting for every dispute to be resolved in Washington and Ottawa. In early July, Alberta MLAs travelled to a western legislators’ gathering in Utah to promote energy, defence, efficient border passage and barrier-free trade. Days later, another Alberta representative attended the Western Energy Caucus in Nevada to discuss grid reliability, growing power demand, wildfire mitigation, carbon management and energy storage with lawmakers from 11 western states.

Those trips show how subnational diplomacy works in practice. A provincial representative may not be able to rewrite CUSMA, but conversations with state lawmakers can shape resolutions, infrastructure priorities and messages sent to Congress or the White House. The Edmonton summit gives Smith the same opportunity on home ground, with American officials seeing Alberta’s energy and industrial assets directly. This approach supplements federal negotiations rather than replacing them. Its value lies in creating a larger group of U.S. political and business voices that view stable Canadian trade as serving their own constituents, companies and energy consumers.

Energy Expansion Is Being Paired With Innovation

Smith’s energy pitch is broader than simply producing and exporting more crude. The summit agenda includes sessions on energy transmission, artificial intelligence-driven power demand, emerging border technologies and the future of the regional energy economy. Policy tours reinforce that message by highlighting hydrogen, carbon capture, lower-emission construction materials, aviation technology and industrial processing. Alberta wants delegates to see a province attempting to combine conventional resource scale with new infrastructure and technology.

The examples are concrete. Heidelberg Materials says its planned carbon-capture project at the Edmonton cement plant could eventually capture about one million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. A hydrogen tour features a modular fuelling station with 600 kilograms of storage and demonstrations involving heavy vehicles. Edmonton International Airport is showcasing hydrogen production, drone operations, aviation training and dual-use commercial and defence infrastructure. These projects remain at different stages of development, but together they support Smith’s central argument: future trade will depend not only on the volume of energy produced, but also on how reliably, efficiently and competitively the region can power new industries.

The Real Test Comes After the Speeches

The summit’s success will not be measured by applause for Hoekstra or Smith. A conference cannot, by itself, build new pipeline capacity, remove tariffs or secure a renewed continental trade pact. The useful outcomes are more practical: follow-up working groups, clearer infrastructure priorities, stronger contacts between regulators and legislators, investment discussions, and coordinated positions on border technology, trade corridors, electricity reliability and energy demand. Those smaller steps can eventually influence larger decisions.

For Alberta, the immediate objective is to leave American delegates with a simple impression—that the province is not merely selling oil, but offering dependable supply, established infrastructure, industrial expertise and a politically stable partner. For U.S. officials, Edmonton is a chance to test whether western Canada can help meet future energy needs without creating new costs or vulnerabilities. The relationship remains unequal in size, but it is deeply interconnected. In a period defined by tariff threats and uncertain trade rules, that interdependence may be Smith’s strongest argument: both countries have more to gain from expanding reliable connections than from making existing ones harder to use.

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