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(AMM) 'Buy American' trade deal gets lukewarm reception in Canada

February 08, 2010 - 22:37 GMT Location: TORONTO

KEYWORDS: Canada , Buy American

The United States and Canada have reached a bilateral trade agreement that should permit Canadian companies to bid on projects that had been off limits because of the "Buy American" clause in the U.S. stimulus package.

While the Canadian wing of the United Steelworkers union and one industrial association there welcomed the deal to varying degrees, they were far from giving it their full support. And some media reports suggested that resentment over "Buy American" continues to smolder in the Great White North.

The "fight against 'Buy American' restrictions must go on," the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters association said.

An editorial in the Toronto Star was blunter: "Sold a bill of goods on 'Buy American'. . . . We've been hosed again."

That any deal was reached at all was no small feat, trade experts told AMM, noting that the United States and Canada are recognized as having a unique trading relationship under the terms of the deal. It is the nature of this relationship that persuaded the World Trade Organization (WTO) to accept a special exemption for Canada from "Buy American," they added.

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