Less than a week after the economic gut punch of Keystone XL, Canada is bracing for more bad news today from the White House.
President Joe Biden is enacting a new Buy American regime to ensure U.S. workers and companies reap the benefits of government spending.
The plan promises to increase the amount of U.S. content a project would require to qualify as being “made in America.”
It also includes a “crackdown” on waivers like the hard-won exceptions Canada secured during the Obama administration in 2010.
Today’s executive order comes less than a week after Biden rescinded a presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline expansion.
It also establishes a new Made-in-America office in the White House to oversee the new rules and ensure they are properly enforced.
In a statement Monday, Canada’s Trade Minister Mary Ng said Prime Minister Trudeau emphasized that workers in both countries “benefit from our integrated, secure and resilient supply chains,” during his call with Biden on Friday.
“The Prime Minister and President agreed to consult closely, and discussions between our two countries are already underway,” the statement read.
Ng said Canada is the “largest export market for the U.S., buying more goods from the U.S., than China, Japan and the U.K. combined.”
“Canada is the number one customer for 32 U.S. states,” she said.
Ng said the Canadian government will “continue to work closely together to support sustainable economic recovery, create jobs, and grow the middle class in Canada and the United States.”
-With files from Global News
© 2021 The Canadian Press
