Canada is not worried about President Joe Biden’s planned forecasts on “Buy American” and will press the case against measures that harm the countries’ $ 725 billion trade relationship, according to the top Canadian diplomat.
Biden is expected to sign an executive order this week urging federal agencies to buy goods and services from American companies. Marc Garneau, Canada’s foreign minister, said he hopes the new administration will discuss the measures with Justin Trudeau’s government.
“President Biden is aware of this and the Prime Minister made it very clear that we are concerned about Buy American policies, because it actually harms our closely integrated bilateral trade relationship,” Garneau said in a television interview with CBC News .
The United States 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 closely connected supply chains that cover the border.
“Sometimes, some of the products we sell at United States they already have American components. And these are messages that we carried a lot during the Nafta 2 negotiations ”with the Trump administration, Garneau added.
The minister’s statements come after Biden dealt a heavy blow to Trudeau on the opening day by revoking the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline that would have carried more than 800,000 barrels a day of crude oil from western Canada to Nebraska .
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