The finance minister of Canada’s largest province said an expected visit from U.S. President Joe Biden is an opportunity to position Ontario as a friendly hub for electric vehicle production.

Ontario Minister of Finance Peter Bethlenfalvy told BNN Bloomberg it’s “fantastic” that Biden plans to travel north on an official visit in March.

“I think it’s long overdue that the president is coming to Canada,” Bethlenfalvy said in a Tuesday television interview from New York. “We’re very focused on doing more trade and good bilateral trade with our friends in the U.S.”

The presidential visit, Biden’s first since taking office two years ago, will be a platform to build on Ontario’s efforts to host more electric vehicle part manufacturing, Bethlenfalvy said, highlighting billions of dollars in recent funding announcements as the province’s auto sector expands its footprint in the EV rush.

Bethlenfalvy also highlighted the geopolitical benefits for the United States if Ontario makes progress on its ambitious goals to mine in the province’s north for critical minerals that are in high demand as the world ramps up battery production.


“The president doesn’t have to call China or Russia for a safe, secure supply of critical minerals that will go into batteries which go into the electric vehicles which help us with emissions down the road,” he said.

Biden, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador are meeting in Mexico this week to discuss trade. Manufacturing and supply chains have been a sticky subject among the closely tied trio recently as the U.S. embraces Biden’s protectionist “Buy American” stance, though last year a major green incentives bill in the U.S. was expanded to include vehicles produced in North America, not just in the United States.

While the federal leaders met in Mexico City, Bethlenfalvy was in New York promoting Ontario and its plans to build infrastructure to Wall Street investors. He said Ontario is the first or second largest trading partner with more than half of U.S. states, and touted the province’s U.S. trade successes as tied to Canada’s at large.

Behtlenfalvy also discussed government bonds the province offers, noting that Ontario mostly sells short-term bonds to outside investors, though he said interest is growing in the province’s green bonds.