Canada, citing Buy American fears, says it might limit U.S. procurement opportunities
Canada’s Chrystia Freeland speaks to media within the Home of Commons lobby on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada January 27, 2020. REUTERS/Blair Gable/Recordsdata
OTTAWA, Oct 14 (Reuters) – Canada has advised the Biden administration it would restrict U.S. firms’ means to win Canadian procurement contracts if Washington brings in more durable “Purchase American” guidelines, the Canadian finance minister stated on Thursday.
In a bid to spice up home manufacturing, President Joe Biden needs to strengthen provisions that apply to a few third of the $600 billion in items and companies the U.S. federal authorities buys yearly.
Canada made clear in January it might search exemptions, given the shut integration of the 2 economies. Many American firms have Canadian suppliers that danger dropping enterprise relying on how tightly the brand new guidelines are utilized.
“In the case of Purchase American, it is essential for the USA to know that procurement is a reciprocal relationship,” stated Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, who met U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday.
U.S. firms, Freeland stated, did about C$1 billion ($808 million) a 12 months in enterprise with Canada’s authorities, which has adopted what it calls a reciprocal procurement method.
“What Canada is saying to our companions, is our procurement alternatives will probably be open to your firms, simply as a lot as your procurement alternatives are open to ours. And that’s one thing that I mentioned with the secretary of the Treasury,” Freeland advised a televised information convention in Washington.
Disputes over Purchase American provisions are usually not new. In 2009, Congress included an identical mandate in an financial stimulus act, which hit Canadian corporations.
Months later, in 2010, the 2 nations struck a deal, however Canadian firms complained that most of the U.S. public works contracts had been locked up by then.
Freeland’s workplace didn’t reply when requested whether or not she had meant to present Yellen a warning. The U.S. Treasury didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
($1 = 1.2375 Canadian {dollars})
Reporting by David Ljunggren; Modifying by Peter Cooney
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