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TTALK QUOTE FOR THURSDAY,
DECEMBER
17, 2009
Filed from Washington, DC
Click here for yesterday's quote from
U.S. Business Groups on the "Buy American" language in the "Jobs for
Main Street Act"
OF THE UNITED STATES AND
CANADA
"Geography
has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics
has made us partners. And necessity has made us allies. Those
whom nature hath so joined together, let no man put asunder.”
John F. Kennedy
May 17, 1961
Context:
These famous lines – perhaps more famous in Canada than in the
United States – can be found in President John Kennedy’s
address to the Canadian Parliament, delivered in Ottawa on
May 17, 1961. We were reminded of them this morning when we visited
the website of the Canadian-American Business Council.
And the issue that led us there was the Council’s reaction
to the “Buy American” provisions of the Jobs for Main Street
legislation, which passed the House of Representatives
yesterday, 217 to 212, with no Republican support. The legislative
picture is a little complex. The $150 billion Jobs bill is now part
of a larger, routine spending bill, H.R. 2847,
which will have to be considered anew by the Senate sometime next
year.
In Canada, and in the offices of those concerned about
U.S.-Canada trade, it is the “Buy American” provisions of the bill
that are getting all of the attention. These provisions, which
mirror with added force the Buy American provisions
in last February’s stimulus bill, “kill jobs in Canada, and they
kill jobs in the United States,” according to Maryscott
Greenwood, executive director of the
Canadian-American Business Council. She described these
provisions as “extremely unhelpful,” according to a recent report in
Canada.com.
Jayson Myers, president and CEO
of Canadian Manufactures and Exporters, has also
expressed concerns, though with a slightly different focus. In the
press release CME issued yesterday, December 16, Mr. Myers said:
“The inclusion of yet another Buy American restriction to
this important bill before Congress highlights the urgent need for
Canada and the United States to come to a negotiated settlement that
ensures procurement markets remain open to cross-border business and
reflects the integrated nature of our economies.”
Comments:
As suggested above, it may be months before the Senate acts on the
new jobs bill. So there should be time for further discussion of
this new Buy American mandate before it becomes law – time for the
Senate to debate it and time for the Administration to weigh in if
has not already.
Separately, the fault may be ours for not
paying more attention to the issue, but it is our impression that
the procurement negotiations with Canada are setting a new standard
for subtlety. We have seen precious little about them since they
were kicked off several months ago and, indeed, our Google search
this morning for press stories on that topic turned up empty. We
certainly hope the negotiations are going well – not because we have
a view on whether the United States or Canada has the more virtuous
opening position but because the golden egg of the fabulous North
American economy is not unbreakable.
Finally (and somewhat
personally), even after all these years President Kennedy’s speeches
are still captivating and the Ottawa address is no exception. The
“let no man put asunder” line may have been a bit over the top, but
it was a good speech. We noted with a bit of contemporary pleasure
that, as part of his discussion of the shared [European] heritage of
Canada and the United States, President Kennedy quoted this thought
from Henry Thoreau: “Eastward I go only by force, Westward I
go free. I must walk towards Oregon not towards Europe.” It
is a contemporary thought for us because we will be heading to
Oregon tomorrow. (We don’t plan to walk, though. JetBlue, not Nike,
will provide the ride.)
SOURCES AND LINKS:
Geography Has Made Us Neighbors is a link to the text of
President Kennedy’s 1961 speech to the Canadian Parliament.
Buy American Redux
takes you to yesterday TTALK quote, which highlighted the positions
of 28 U.S. business associations on this issue.
Job
Killer is the Canada.com story with the quotes from Maryscott
Greenwood,
New Focus
on Negotiations is the page from the website of Canadian
Manufacturers and Exporters with that organization December 16 press
release on this issue. And,
Jobs Bill Clears House takes you to the story on this
development in today’s Washington Post.
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The
Global Business Dialogue is an organization in which the members and
the staff speak for themselves. It does not express collective
views or take group positions. The views expressed in the
TTALK Quotes, in The
Global Positions Notebook,
and in other GBD publications are those of the editors, authors, and
others as attributed. Editor: R. K. Morris
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