Canadian Foreign Minister Mark Garneau said Sunday that the new US president, Joe Biden, cannot guarantee that the preferential buying policy of his country’s companies, called “Buy America”, will not harm Canadian companies.
Speaking of the policy, Minister Garneau told CTV: “We have expressed our concerns because we have a very good trade agreement with them, and a very integrated supply chain, and that might have implications for Canada.” Details are expected to be published on Monday.
He pointed out that the US President promised to study the implications for Canada during his call last Friday with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“President Biden indicated that he is very sensitive about this and that the two countries are still in contact so that there are no unintended consequences regarding our very strong integration of our supply chains,” Mark said. Garneau on the show Question period.
Canada has assured the new US administration that its economies are so interconnected that giving preference to US-based companies for public contracts could cause problems.
“A number of the things that we send them to them contain American products, which shows how integrated our supply chains are,” the foreign minister added.
The “Buy America” policy could prevent Canadian companies from winning public contract tenders south of the border.