January 20, 2010

‘Buy American’ talks at critical stage

Feb. 17 is stimulus deadline

WASHINGTON, D.C.

A key Canadian lobbyist on the Buy American file says he still believes a deal will be reached between Canada and U.S. on the protectionist trade provisions, but warns time is rapidly running out and the result will be Canadian retaliation.

“The clock is ticking on an agreement,” Jayson Myers, head of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, said after a week of meetings with American trade officials in the U.S. capital.

“I have been emphasizing, to as many people I meet with, the urgency of the matter.”

But Myers acknowledged it’s been tough selling Americans on the notion of excluding Canada from Buy American, adding it’s not a priority for the White House.

Among those he’s met with this week include Ron Bloom, a former investment banker who’s now President Barack Obama’s manufacturing czar.

The deadline for funds to be allocated under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is Feb. 17. Myers said if a deal isn’t reached between Canada and U.S. trade representatives by the end of this month, the battle is essentially lost.

“The negotiations have taken longer than we had hoped, but the longer they take, frankly, the less value there is because jobs are being lost now and contracts are being lost now,” he said.

“If these negotiations fail, or if there is not an agreement that doesn’t respond to the concerns of Canadian manufacturers, I am very, very concerned about the backlash on a regional and municipal level in Canada.”

Myers, who spoke last week to a sympathetic business audience, was joined by Linda Menghetti, the vice-president of the Emergency Committee for American Trade, a business organization that promotes free trade.

Menghetti pointed out the U.S. business community has been forcefully urging both the Obama administration and Congress to do away with the protectionist provisions since they’re cutting off American corporations from crucial global supply chains.

She also warned that Buy American provisions will likely show up in future pieces of legislation, and are already contained in the so-called “Jobs for Main Street Act” currently winding its way through Congress. This despite the fact that the existing Buy American measures have actually killed American jobs, Menghetti said.

“These Buy American provisions have had the perverse effect of putting U.S. workers out of work,” she said.

During his week in Washington, Myers said he was frequently told by those he met, including Bloom, that Canada was never the intended target of Buy American.

But Myers acknowledged there is little political appetite in the U.S. to grant a Canadian waiver to Buy American, with its jingoistic, Mom and apple pie connotations.

Canadian Press

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