Canada will push American legislators to be mindful of their international trade commitments as the U.S. moves ahead with its massive US$787 billion stimulus bill that includes amended, but still contentious, "Buy American" provisions.
International Trade Minister Stockwell Day said Sunday that Canada will employ a "collaborative but intensive" approach in Washington over the next few months.
"We're going to be protecting Canadian interests and working in a collaborative way, but reminding our trading partners in the U.S. that we have agreements and we live up to our agreements and we expect all our partners to do the same," Day told CTV's Question Period.
While President Barack Obama has made it clear that the U.S. cannot renege on its trade commitments in implementing its "Buy American" provisions in the stimulus bill, Day said that Canada has some concerns.
"It will be a matter of political will to make sure that the other parts of that bill, which suggest that only U.S. products -- iron, steel and other products -- can be used in the bidding of their own infrastructure process," Day said.
Obama's clause that allows the U.S. to waive the "Buy American" requirements to stay in line with their existing agreements is "good," the international trade minister said, but Canada will still need to keep a close eye on their compliance.
"That part is good, but the part that is going to require ongoing vigilance is to make sure that they don't, again, lapse back into saying no to any Canadian products or services," Day said.
"The political will is going to have to be there for them to enforce that exemption that allows our products and our services, as long as we're competitive, to go into some of these U.S. infrastructure projects and that's what we're going to be maintaining very close scrutiny on."
Canada especially does not want to see any kind of expansion of these types of protectionist measures that could inhibit cross-border trade.
"Our intent and our resolve is to see that there is no increase of that 'Buy American' act and the provisions of it ... we don't want to see an expansion of protectionism and that's the territory that we're going to be marking out and I'm sure that the prime minister will be sharing some of those things with the president," Day said.
NDP International Trade Critic Peter Julian said it appeared Canada's Conservative government had not been paying attention to what is happening in U.S. politics.
"I think what's happened ... is that this government just hasn't understood that there's been a major change in the administrative focus (in Washington)," he told Question Period on Sunday.
"When we talk about trade, essentially Barack Obama was elected on a mandate of trade reform, on managed trade. So, the Buy American provisions are part and parcel of what American workers have been feeling ... and so they've had a strong reaction that propelled Barack Obama into power."
Liberal International Trade Critic Scott Brison said Canada needs to "strengthen our relationships on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue" to keep Canadian interests on the minds of U.S. legislators.
