Thanks to Wikicommons
Canada is angry at the US again (and its not due to USDemocrazy this time). Instead our neighbor to the north is spitting mad at American lawmakers’ newest policies.
Congress is currently hammering out a bill to tackle the threat of climate change. As part of that bill, congress is putting money aside to help promote Green (ie, fuel efficient) cars. The catch is… they want only to fund cars made and developed in America (not cars from our Canadian friends acquaintances)
This is not the first time US policymakers have promoted buying US stuff. In that HUGE $800 Billion stimulus bill passed a while back a ‘Buy American’ clause was included.
Canadian cities have decided that they have had enough. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) has endorsed a “we’re ticked off at you Americans” proposal. If a country (read USA) puts trade restrictions on Canada, the FCM will support any Canadian town that retaliates with a boycott of goods from that country ( read USA).
Some Canadians think this is not enough. In a Toronto Star editorial, the paper called the FCM nonbinding resolution too soft and instead
They [America] would be more impressed by the introduction of a Buy Canada Act in Parliament.
So…Who cares what the Canadians think, as long as ‘Buy American’ helps America?
Well it seems that the provision is causing a fair amount of confusion south of the border as
the Buy American rules were being interpreted in a way that barred even some US-based manufacturers from bidding on projects.
Many US manufacturers rely on global production chains that integrate components from US and foreign sources but are finding it difficult to comply with these new Buy American rules.
So should we ‘Buy America’? The NY Times has great collection of opinions, but I’d bet yours is better so post it up.
