Toronto, Feb 3 (Inditop.com) Canada, which is America’s biggest trading partner, Tuesday opposed any protectionist measures in President Barack Obama’s proposed new jobs legislation.
Reeling from the loss of the Massachusetts senate seat to the Republican Party last month, the US president has urged Congress to enact the populist bill that will reward businesses that don’t outsource jobs.
But America’ s biggest trading partner and its neighbour fears that Congress will add protectionist measures to the bill to hamper their bilateral trade already reeling from the impact of recession.
“Whenever anything goes to Congress, there is always the threat of new protectionist measures,” said Industry Minister Tony Clement Tuesday.
“We are going to have to continue to work, because we know that Congress is a place where things can pop up at the last moment and be tacked onto pieces of legislation,” the minister was quoted as saying by the Canadian Press.
The minister said Canada is already working to seek exemptions from ‘Buy American’ provisions put in Obama’s stimulus bill passed last year.
“We have got our best minds at work on it and we continue to have an active dialogue with the Obama administration on why Buy America should not in fact be part and parcel of the Canada-US relationship.
“The good news is the Obama administration has been quite clear that they do not want America to move to protectionism. This is something that they’ve signed onto as part of the G-20 economic discussions, ” the minister was quoted as saying.
Last year, Canada had joined the European Union and Australia in seeking deletion of the “Buy America” clause in the $819-billion stimulus package passed by the US Congress.
The “Buy America” provision was added to Obama’s stimulus plan bill by Congress to shield the country’s’ crucial sectors from competition.
The economic relations between Canada and the US, which do annual trade of over $600 billion, have been marked by many disputes in recent years, including lumber and beef exports to the US.
