Canada offers trade promises to U.S. in exchange for Buy American waiver

[CHIMO]

Source: Globe and Mail

The Canadian government has offered the U.S. guaranteed access to the provinces’ public purchases in exchange for a quick waiver of Buy American provisions that have frozen Canadian companies out of lucrative American stimulus-spending contracts.

In a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, Canadian trade minister Stockwell Day said such a deal would address Canada’s immediate concerns about Buy American, and could serve as a prelude to a permanent deal that would open cross-border access to provincial, state, and city contracts.

The letter, dated Thursday and obtained by The Globe and Mail, refers to a proposal that Canada submitted at the same time, after lengthy talks with the provinces.

“Through this proposal, Canada is offering time-limited guarantees to an ambitious package of sub-federal procurement in an exchange for a waiver from the “Buy American” requirements in the Recovery Act and any similar requirements in new federal U.S. legislation.



Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/canada-offers-trade-promises-to-us-in-exchange-for-buy-american-waiver/article1260921/

[Schema Thing]

1. score Obama

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

2. This issue predates FTA

The issue that has mostly gone away with the privatization of the provincial telephone companies and the implosion of Northern Telecom. The main bone of contention was that US vendors had been shut-out of the Canadian market by an unofficial monopoly for Northern Telecom, the issue was ratcheted up further when the Alberta government launched Novatel and offered loan guarantees to Novatel's US customers.

[Indenturedebtor]

3. No thanks... I don't need my tax dollars to stimulate Canada

Love ya Canucks but really why in the hell should this money be handled any differently?

[pampango]

4. Sorry Canada. Americans fear you more than the French fear the Germans.

Don't ask me why. What have you ever done to us? (Other than that 1812 thing when you were still a part of Great Britain.)

Doesn't matter. You are still what in the US we call "foreigners". Just keep your economic behemoth away from us. ;)

[robcon]

5. We should take the deal.

Free trade is the better way.

[fasttense]

6. Oh, yeah cause free trade has been so lucrative for the American middle class.

Let's see what industries do we have left now that free trade has been forced on Americans. Textiles? Steal? Farming? How can Americans compete with China's labor at less than a dollar an hour? Can we really compete with child and prison labor?

Free trade is a piece of neocon propaganda. It is merely labor arbitrage and union busting.

Canada is not one of those third world countries trading off their poor's labor in exchange for kick backs to the elite and powerful. But why should Canada be exempt from Buy America? How does that help Americans? It's about time America as a society became economically selfish. If greed was so great for our uber wealthy masters to use as an economic principle than why shouldn't it work as a principle for the ENTIRE country? Why is greed good for Wall Street types but not good for America as a whole? Let's stop being the worlds market place and start being an economically sound country.

[TrogL]

7. Guys, pay attention

The US gets a lot more out of this than Canada does.

A lot of the US stimulus packages have already been awarded and the money spent. Now those companies, having survived, get free access to Canadian contracts bidding against companies that have not benefitted from previous stimulus packages (except for some construction projects).

It'll be like shooting fish in a barrel.

I wonder how much Stockwell Day got bribed?