Nathan Cooper checks out the local landscape in Washington, D.C. Photo from Facebook/Nathan Cooper
Alberta has “an incredible story to tell” — one that D.C. needs to hear often and fully comprehend, says the province’s senior trade representative in the U.S. capital.
Nathan Cooper said oilsands innovation, environmental advancements, and food security and affordability are key continental trade contributions from his home province.
“In many respects, Alberta is part of the answer,” Cooper told The Macleod Gazette earlier this year.
“We want to share that story, that we want to be part of energy super dominance in ways that can create a safe and secure North America,” said Cooper, who’s been in the role for over a year.
The 46-year-old former Speaker of the House in Edmonton said his appointment involves making and maintaining relationships while entrenching Alberta in the trade conversation.
It’s about connecting businesses, industry stakeholders and politicians with the bureaucrats and other powerbrokers who can further the Alberta cause, he explained.
“The relationship between Alberta and the United States is, by orders of magnitude, the most important international relationship that the province has,” Cooper said.
Born of the 2003 crisis caused by BSE, or mad cow disease, the role is today called Alberta’s senior representative to the United States of America.
According to the Alberta Treasury Branch, the province’s exports to the U.S. accounted for almost 89 per cent of Alberta’s total foreign merchandise sales in 2025, up 3.6 per cent from the year before to $161.6 billion. Energy products accounted for 82 per cent of Alberta’s total exports to the U.S.
As of this week, Canada had not come to a new agreement with the U.S. to replace the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, or CUSMA. A July 1 deadline has passed to extend or renegotiate the trade agreement.
Although Cooper said he’s been pleased with meetings held and connections made, he admitted that success can “sometimes be a bit difficult to measure.”
But “day in and day out,” Cooper and his staff meet with legislators at the federal and state level, and also directly advocate with cabinet secretaries and other members of the federal administration.
A team of Alberta trade representatives works across the U.S., with offices in Seattle, Chicago, Minneapolis and Dallas. Regional offices focus on state-to-province relationships, with the Washington office centered on Congress and the administration.
Cooper, the former UCP MLA for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, said his role also involves working with fellow envoys from Ontario, Manitoba and Quebec and with Canadian Embassy diplomats.
“It’s a great group of individuals with many shared interests,” he said. “We get together at least once a month to both visit and share what’s working and to try to make all of our efforts more valuable.”
But that crucial Alberta story remains top-of-agenda for Cooper.
About 60 per cent of all crude oil imported to the U.S. world-wide comes from Alberta. The U.S. turns about $100 billion worth of Alberta energy into about $300 billion for its own economy.
“So my job is really about helping U.S. legislators understand the importance of that trade relationship and just how many jobs are dependent on it on both sides of the border.”
There are similarities to his Alberta legislature work. “When I was the Speaker, I spent a lot of time helping Albertans understand the importance of the democratic process and how they can connect to that,” Cooper explains.
“And now I spend a lot of time helping U.S. legislators understand the importance of the unique trade relationship that Alberta and the United States have.”
The work, in some senses, began while Cooper was in the Speaker’s chair.
“I used that opportunity to build relationships . . . from across the U.S., particularly in regions of importance to the province,” he said.
Those connections “were particularly useful in the transition to meeting with and engaging with a wide spectrum of U.S. legislators.”
Which invites the question: what’s his current job preparing Cooper for? After all, he rose from Carstairs town council to MLA to Speaker of the House in just 15 years, and he’s not even 50 yet.
“I’m just brand new here in Washington, so I am really committed to serving Albertans in this capacity. I haven’t looked to the future very much; I’m just really enjoying the job here thus far.”
He continued: “There have been some challenges between Canada and the United States, so it’s a unique opportunity to be here to help strengthen Alberta’s voice. So I’m 100 per cent focused on this current job.”
