Category: Business

Trump’s trade talks with Canada carry high stakes for Kansas

by Stephen Koranda, Kansas News Service

President Donald Trump has reached a tentative trade deal with Mexico, and now the focus of tariff talks shifts to Canada.

It’s a high-stakes situation for Kansas industry because Canada is the top export market for the state.

Kansas exports totaled more than $11 billion in 2017, led by agricultural products, aircraft and airplane parts. Nearly $2.5 billion of those exports went to Canada. The other partner in the North American Free Trade Agreement, Mexico, was the second biggest market for Kansas exports, at nearly $2 billion.

When it comes to agriculture, Canada is generally the No. 3 market for Kansas, behind Mexico and Japan.

Josh Roe, deputy secretary of agriculture in Kansas, stressed the importance of the NAFTA deal for Kansas farmers.

“I just can’t place enough emphasis on Canada and Mexico moving forward,” Roe said.

The deal with Mexico keeps tariffs on farm products at zero. Mexico buys around 30 percent of the state’s ag exports.

Roe hopes the same zero-tariff mindset continues in the talks with Canada. Between 8 and 10 percent of Kansas agriculture exports are sold to Canada, including meat from the state’s packing plants, flour and soybean products.

Roe said the top goal for the trade talks is simple: Keep the Canadian market open to Kansas farmers. Many of the state’s producers are already struggling.

“We’re still at a place with very depressed commodity prices, very low farm incomes,” Roe said. “Any additional shock that takes away those markets just has very detrimental impacts.”

However, NAFTA is nearly 25 years old, so Roe believes it could use some updating. Protections for intellectual property and updated definitions for technology could help boost high-tech products.

With the right changes, there could be a growth in the sales of animal pharmaceuticals, seed technology and software related to agriculture.

“A majority of our exports now really are those base ag commodities,” Roe said, “but in the digital era, it’s not always something concrete we can hold in our hands.”

In a letter to Trump this week, Republican Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran sent a similar message. Moran suggested Trump try to lower tariffs on dairy products going into Canada, but he urged the president not to move forward with a new trade deal unless Canada is on board.

“Any new agreement that excludes Canada would, unfortunately, be a significant step in the wrong direction,” Moran said in the letter to the president.

Stephen Koranda is Statehouse reporter for Kansas Public Radio, a partner in the Kansas News Service. Follow him on Twitter @kprkoranda.
Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution and a link back to the original post.
See more at http://www.kcur.org/post/president-trump-s-trade-talks-canada-carry-high-stakes-kansas.

Hard Rock Hotel coming to Edwardsville

The Edwardsville City Council on Monday night approved a community improvement district for a Hard Rock Hotel development coming to Village South at 110th and I-70. (Photo by William Crum)
An architect’s drawing of the new Hard Rock Hotel development at Village South, 110th and I-70.

by William Crum

The Hard Rock Hotel is coming to Edwardsville, Kansas, according to officials at Monday night’s Edwardsville City Council meeting.

The 231-room hotel with a meeting space will be at the Village South development at 110th and I-70, said Jon Monson, a developer who is part of the ownership group. The hotel’s anticipated completion date is in 2020. Village South is just to the south of the Village West development.

The Edwardsville City Council on Monday unanimously passed a Community Improvement District for the new hotel and development, with a 1 percent sales tax in the district.

“I am really excited, this project will be a big asset to our community,” said Edwardsville Mayor John McTaggart.

Kevin Lee, a lawyer with Polsinelli who is representing the owners, said this project has been in the works for some years, and the CID is the latest part of it. An initial CID was approved previously, and there are now three CIDs for the project, he added.

Lee said the developers are still working on plans for an events center subject to approval by Edwardsville planning and zoning that will decide how big the events center will be. He added it is not a convention center, but an events center.

For financing, the hotel development project plans to use tax-increment financing, the CID and a transient guest tax dedication. According to a public notice, it will be a pay-as-you-go project, paid in part by bonds funded from sales tax revenues and in part from private equity and debt.

The Edwardsville Council approved raising the transient guest tax from 6 percent to 8 percent.

The estimated cost of the project is still being worked out, Lee said. The public notice published Aug. 9 in the Wyandotte Echo for the Edwardsville CID meeting listed the projected cost of the first CID development at $19.2 million; the second CID development at $63.39 million; and the third CID development in the project at $13.1 million.

The development group is the Compass Commodity Group III LLC.

Mayor McTaggart said original plans for this Village South project were a La Quinta and a Holiday Inn, with a restaurant. Then that was changed to a 208-room single hotel with Hyatt, including a convention center and other development.

“Even before they changed to a Hard Rock, the impact of development on Wyandotte County was going to be pretty big anyway,” he said. He believes this announcement will have a major impact on development in Edwardsville.

Mayor McTaggart also said that developers are currently looking at two restaurants with the Village South project, one a rooftop on top of the 10-story hotel, and the other possibly in the events center area. Currently, the developers are discussing an events center of about 39,000 square feet, he added.

The council on Monday night also advanced a bond issue for the project, and they will be considering the bond issue at the September council meeting.

The audience at Monday night’s Edwardsville City Council meeting listened as a community improvement district was approved for a Hard Rock Hotel development at 110th and I-70. (Photo by William Crum)
The Village South development at 110th and I-70 has been divided into three separate community improvement districts. (Illustration from Edwardsville city)

Agency focuses on employment opportunities

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Opinion column
by Murrel Bland

The best paying jobs in Kansas are in Wyandotte County. However, when it comes to jobs that Wyandotte County residents hold, Wyandotte County ranks only 83 out of 105 counties. Much of Greg Kindle’s efforts are focused on closing that gap. Kindle is the president of the Wyandotte Economic Development Council.

The average annual household income in Wyandotte County is slightly more than $41,000. Kindle hopes to increase that amount to the Kansas state average of about $55,000 a year.

That was the message that Kindle delivered when he spoke to about 75 members of the Congressional Forum at a luncheon Friday, Aug. 17, at Children’s Mercy Park. The Kansas City, Kansas, Area Chamber of Commerce sponsors the forum.

Kindle cited the success his organization has had in attracting new and expanded business during the past 25 years with more than 423 projects that resulted in $5.6 billion in capital investment that resulted in more than 27,000 new jobs. Wyandotte County affords about 100,000 jobs.

One of Kindle’s major challenges is finding qualified workers from Wyandotte County — the broad area called workforce development. Kindle and his staff make extensive calls on Wyandotte County businesses to determine how they can assist. His agency is funded by private and public funds.

Kindle identified five areas where there are major challenges.

• Language. Many of the potential employees are immigrants. Businesses can solve this problem by developing English as a second language classes.

• Criminal history. Non-violent offenders who have been rehabilitated can be productive workers.

• Transit opportunities. Operating the Area Transportation Authority business is expensive. Although the ATA bus service in Kansas City, Kansas, has been relatively successful, other creative transportation methods need to be developed.

• Post-secondary education. It will be important for public and private educational institutions to train a workforce that is computer savvy.

• Child care. Forty percent of those seeking jobs in Wyandotte County identify reasonably priced child care as an issue. The Family Conservancy and the United Way of Wyandotte County are seeking a solution to this matter.

Kindle said he expects ground to be broken this fall on the new American Royal complex just west of the Legends Outlets. He said private sector fund-raising that will complement public funds is moving ahead.

Murrel Bland is the former editor of The Wyandotte West and The Piper Press. He is the executive director of Business West.