Washington Post Article on Canadian Outrage over “Buy American” protectionist measures
[quote]Ordered by Congress to “buy American” when spending money from the $787 billion stimulus package, the town of Peru, Ind., stunned its Canadian supplier by rejecting sewage pumps made outside of Toronto. After a Navy official spotted Canadian pipe fittings in a construction project at Camp Pendleton, Calif., they were hauled out of the ground and replaced with American versions. In recent weeks, other Canadian manufacturers doing business with U.S. state and local governments say they have been besieged with requests to sign affidavits pledging that they will only supply materials made in the USA.
Outrage spread in Canada, with the Toronto Star last week bemoaning “a plague of protectionist measures in the U.S.” and Canadian companies openly fretting about having to shift jobs to the United States to meet made-in-the-USA requirements. This week, the Canadians fired back. A number of Ontario towns, with a collective population of nearly 500,000, retaliated with measures effectively barring U.S. companies from their municipal contracts – the first shot in a larger campaign that could shut U.S. companies out of billions of dollars worth of Canadian projects.[/quote]
How stupid can the Senate and House get? If you piss off our trade partners with protectionsit measures then they’ll stop purchasing quality American made goods (Detroit need not apply). In the short run you may save a few jobs (mostly union) but in the long run you’re going to damage the American economy. Other industries not associated with the Stimulus spending will find their international orders diminish as Canada is our largest trading partner. Protectionism deepened the Great Depression and will make this current economic period much more painful and lengthy than otherwise.