Canada is uneasy about President Joe Biden’s planned “Buy America” provisions and will press the case against measures that would damage countries’ $ 725 billion trade relations, according to Canada’s top diplomat.
Biden to sign an executive order this week urging federal agencies to buy goods and services from American companies. Canadian Foreign Minister Marc Garneau said he expects the new government to discuss measures with the government of Justin Trudeau.
“President Biden is aware of this and the Prime Minister has made it very clear that we are concerned about Buy American policies, because it actually undermines our bilateral trade relationship, which is so tightly integrated,” said Garneau in a television interview with CBC News.
The USA and Canada exchanged nearly $ 2 billion a day in goods and services in 2019, making it “the most comprehensive business relationship in the world,” according to the State Department. Some industries, such as the automotive sector, have highly connected supply chains that extend across the border.
“Sometimes, some of the products we sell to the U.S already have American components in them. And these are messages that we carry a lot during the NAFTA 2 negotiations ”with the Trump administration, added Garneau.
The minister’s comments come after Biden struck Trudeau on opening day, revoking the license for the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have carried more than 800,000 barrels of crude oil from western Canada to Nebraska.
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