Obama’s Protectionism Isn’t Sitting Well With Canadians
Protectionism is stupid. Not only does it hurt Americans by denying them access to foreign goods and services that might be cheaper and/or of better quality than what is domestically available, it also sends an unfriendly message to other nation’s in the world that often makes them retaliate by denying American companies access to their markets.
Case in point, the protectionism Obama put into his “stimulus” spending spree isn’t exactly winning him many friends north of the border.
WHISTLER, British Columbia (Reuters) – Canadian municipal leaders threatened to retaliate against the “Buy America” movement in the United States on Saturday, warning trade restrictions will hurt both countries’ economies.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities endorsed a controversial proposal to support communities that refuse to buy products from countries that put trade restrictions on products and services from Canada.
The measure is a response to a provision in the U.S. economic stimulus package passed by Congress in February that says public works projects should use iron, steel and other goods made in the United States.
The United States is Canada’s largest trading partner, and Canadians have complained the restrictions will bar their companies from billions of dollars in business that they have previously had access to.
“This U.S. protectionist policy is hurting Canadian firms, costing Canadian jobs and damaging Canadian efforts to grow our economy in the midst of a worldwide recession,” said Sherbrooke, Quebec, Mayor Jean Perrault, also president of the federation that represents cities and towns across Canada.
Nationally, the Canadian government has passed a “Buy Canada” bill that puts the same sort of trade restrictions on American companies as Obama put on Canada.
What’s sad is that Obama’s protectionist policy is costing American jobs and money too.
