Photo credit: Windsor Star – Dan Janisse
Windsor-Essex Chamber Looks Beyond 150 Years as Cross-Border Relationships Shift
September 30, 2026
Windsor Star
Sept. 25, 2026
Trevor Wilhelm
It’s not just a milestone, this is one of the most pivotal periods in 150 years. The Windsor-Essex Chamber of Commerce held its 150th annual general meeting on the waterfront Thursday with Detroit serving as the backdrop. It was a nice view, but also symbolic of a critical moment in history.
The meeting occurred the same morning U.S. President Donald Trump — who has become increasingly aggressive toward Canada — welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House as part of a “truly great friendship.” It was a once unthinkable contrast that didn’t go unnoticed on the banks of the Detroit River.
Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce President and Chief Executive Officer Sandy K. Baruah, who spoke in Windsor as an embodiment of tight cross-border bonds, said China is a prime example of why Canada and the U.S. must stick together.
Photo credit: Windsor Star – Dan Janisse
“China is a strategic and geopolitical risk to democracies and the Western world,” he said. “The best way to combat, to compete, to win is for no country to do it alone. There’s no better example of how we are stronger together than when we think about the potential threat of China on the economic or the geopolitical standpoint.”
The chamber of commerce hosted dozens of Windsor-Essex business leaders Thursday for its first ever outdoor AGM, next to the Streetcar No. 351 Legacy Beacon. A theme for the 150th annual event was “legacy built, future bound” and asking “what’s next?”
“I’m bullish about our economic future in Windsor- Essex and equally bullish about the future we share with our friends across the river,” said Ryan Donally, Chief Executive Officer of the Windsor-Essex Chamber of Commerce. “This cross-border region embodies a spirit that is unmatched throughout North America. We — both sides of the border — are resilient. We are resourceful. We are creative and we are grit.”
He said the AGM essentially concluded the chamber’s 150th year. The organization began as the Windsor Board of Trade with the signatures of 34 businessmen on March 27, 1876. The document still hangs on the wall at the chamber’s downtown office.
The chamber is older than the City of Windsor, incorporated in 1892. It’s also older than the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, which was founded in 1903. The Windsor and Detroit chambers have a unique partnership that allows members of one organization to be reciprocal members in the other.
“We are one integrated region, especially when you talk about automotive,” said Baruah. “We built it on purpose. It wasn’t by accident but on purpose. We built a binational economy.”
For Thursday’s event, Donally said it was important to include “friends and allies and perspectives of our American counterparts.” Guest speakers included Baruah, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens and Andrea Clements, who is five weeks into her new job as Consul General of Canada to the United States in Detroit.
Photo credit: Windsor Star – Dan Janisse
“Diversification” was the word of the day with every speaker focused on Trump’s tariffs, turbulent relations with the U.S. and the constantly shifting global landscape.
Clements said the U.S. will remain Canada’s most important ally and economic partner. But she stressed diversification is vital to endure seismic shifts now reshaping the world and the upheavals to come.
“The Canada-U.S. relationship is definitely changing, but the partnerships forged over generations in this region will endure and are worth defending,” said Clements, who grew up in Windsor. “But we do need to be clear-eyed about the moment. Canada is in the midst of diversifying its trade deliberately and with urgency, because a country that depends too heavily on any single partner is not fully in control of its own future.”