{"id":435437,"date":"2026-01-27T01:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T01:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/435437\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T01:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T01:34:08","slug":"canadian-companies-can-win-the-trade-wars-by-being-essential-to-the-u-s-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/435437\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian companies can win the trade wars by being essential to the U.S. government"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

U.S. Navy and Coast Guard boats patrol San Diego Bay in July, 2019.Denis Poroy\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

In San Diego, examples of how Canadian companies can keep winning U.S. business during a trade<\/a> war between the two countries cruise around the harbour, ensuring the safety of the U.S. Navy\u2019s Pacific fleet. <\/p>\n

Last year, Voltari Marine Electric Inc., based in the town of Merrickville-Wolford near Ottawa, won a contract to supply battery-powered patrol boats used to protect 60 warships while they are berthed in southern California. <\/p>\n

In January, Voltari moved to win more U.S. business by acquiring a Florida shipyard for US$37.6-million.<\/p>\n

As the U.S. government cranks up defence spending, Voltari is one of the many Canadian companies executing what amounts to a deft piece of financial jiu-jitsu in the American market to win cash and credibility that will build their domestic operations. <\/p>\n

Miners, energy producers and other manufacturers are using the same game plan \u2013 tap the U.S. government for capital and clients while remaining proudly if quietly Canadian. <\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s investments in Canadian critical minerals could push Ottawa to follow suit, industry players say<\/a><\/p>\n

For example, Vancouver-based Lithium Americas Corp. LAC-T<\/a> saw its stock price soar last October when the U.S. Department of Energy took a 5-per-cent stake in the company, which is building a massive mine in Nevada. <\/p>\n

For all of U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s threats to put Canada\u2019s economy in the penalty box, these domestic companies are consistently scoring major U.S. contracts and investments. The simple lesson is that being essential to Americans allows CEOs to largely ignore the President\u2019s tantrums.<\/p>\n

Recall that coming out of the Second World War, Canada boasted the third largest navy in the world. Voltari founder and chief executive officer Cam Heaps wants to make this country great again on the oceans. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is to be North America\u2019s premier supplier of manned and unmanned electric vessels,\u201d Mr. Heaps said in an interview. <\/p>\n

To hit that goal, one of Voltari\u2019s priorities is winning contracts to supply the Canadian navy and coast guard with stealthy, reliable patrol boats. Signing on domestic customers and financing expansion gets easier if Voltari can sell into far larger markets, including the U.S. military and buyers of high-performance speedboats.<\/p>\n

Opinion: Canada\u2019s new warships could be obsolete by delivery time<\/a><\/p>\n

Voltari is the product of a 2021 union between three boating companies, a Toronto manufacturer of carbon fibre hulls, a Montreal producer of marine batteries and power systems and a bankrupt Florida-based race boat maker. Its backers include Canadian private equity funds such as Optimize Inc.<\/p>\n

\u201cReplacing a traditional boat engine with electric power means no noise, no exhaust, no gas and acceleration that you have to experience to believe,\u201d said Mr. Heaps, co-founder of beer maker Steam Whistle Brewing and a lifelong boater. He was an investor in the hull maker, Carbon Marine. <\/p>\n

Voltari quickly established its credentials in nautical circles by racing one its prototypes from Florida to the Bahamas on a single electrical charge. The price tags on its recreational vessels start at $400,000, while the U.S. Navy paid US$570,000 for the each of patrol boats circling San Diego harbour.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Voltari bought the shipyard in Panama City, Fla., to meet federal rules \u2013 known as the Jones Act \u2013 that require U.S.-built vessels carry the U.S. military. Mr. Heaps said tariffs had nothing to do with the investment, as Voltari\u2019s boats are exported duty-free under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement. <\/p>\n

Canada spoke with Trump official to reassure U.S. that free trade deal with Beijing not in the works<\/a><\/p>\n

The press release announcing the Florida acquisition could have been written by the White House. It said the Voltari facility will create 712 direct and indirect jobs in Florida, paying US$43-million in wages. <\/p>\n

While Voltari will trumpet its Florida ties when bidding for business from the U.S. military and government entities such as wildlife agencies, which value silent boats, Mr. Heaps said the company\u2019s goal is to be a domestic success story. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe consider Voltari to be more of a tech company than a boat manufacturer,\u201d said Mr. Heaps. He said the company\u2019s intellectual property and patents, its most important assets, will remain Canadian. <\/p>\n

By being among the first builders of high-performance electric vessels, and winning the U.S. Navy\u2019s stamp of approval for its watercraft, Voltari is trying to do for high-end boating what Tesla did for cars. If the team succeeds in building a domestic champion in Merrickville-Wolford \u2013 population 3,135 \u2013 Voltari will have the U.S. government\u2019s support to thank for its success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: U.S. Navy and Coast Guard boats patrol San Diego Bay in July, 2019.Denis…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-435437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}