Another article showing how Buy American is hurting your northern neighbour.
And how it potentially will cause unemployment in the US to rise due to policies of Buy American.
Business is always a two way street.
If it is not respected there are always penalties.
Trade retaliation from the biggest business partner you folks in the US of A have - Canada - is probably not far off.
If the shoe was on the other foot you would do the same.So - with a billion dollars a day business going down the tubes - you will start to see your unemployment rise and quite likely your oil, fuel and gas industries will be hit with tariffs which you will be forced to pay once existing contracts come to an end - making it even more expensive for your own people to maintain the life style you have today.
Free trade is not being honoured - and that will make it hard for both sides - but remember - your unemployed actually out number the entire population of Canada - meaning they will also become a huge fiscal burden on your economy. Add in your illegal immigrant population taking advantage of your benefits and the interest on your debt - and you have a train coming at you. And it will not stop for anyone.
Going to be pretty expensive to feed those horses and cows when you are unable to buy Canadian hay - and that is a pretty big industry in eastern Canada.
You think your taxes are bad now - just wait for it - they are on the way up - and the rise will not be a small one.
Unemployment is going up - if it falls it will be due to 7-11 type jobs - and you cannot pay your mortgage on that salary
Regards
Bez+
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‘Buy American horror stories' building
Natalie Stechyson, Canwest News Service
Published: Friday, November 06, 2009
Reuters Buy American protectionist measure are not only hurting Canadian companies, but American firms as well, says Canadian business people.
OTTAWA - For the second time in six months, pipe fittings in California are being ripped from the ground because they were stamped "Made in Canada," a move manufacturing companies say hurts both sides of the border.
Cambridge Brass Inc., a Canadian brass fittings manufacturer, discovered Thursday that it stands to lose more than $1.5- million in this most recent fallout from the Buy American protectionist measure.
Greg Bell, vice-president of sales and marketing for the Cambridge, Ont., company, received a call Thursday from the City of Sacramento, where the parts were being fitted into the public water system. He was told his product was no longer acceptable because it was not made in the United States.
"It's disheartening. (The city) wants American-made products and there's nothing I can do about it," Mr. Bell said. "Business is tough enough these days without having to deal with these roadblocks."
Anything already in the ground will have to be ripped back up at Cambridge Brass's expense, Mr. Bell said. Between the costs of losing the project, pulling up the pipes and legal fees, he estimates his company stands to lose money in the seven-figure range.
Cambridge Brass has been based in southern Ontario for more than a century and has survived two world wars and the Great Depression, but Buy American may be what finally causes the company to bid farewell to the province.
Mr. Bell said losing a major project like this would mean more layoffs for the already suffering company.
It has already lost a supply distributor in Maine, and it has had to lay off half of its own employees in Cambridge - from a workforce of 140 it is now down to 77 - since the introduction of Buy American policies this year.
And if these protectionist measures continue, he said, the company will likely be forced to move its manufacturing to the United States in order to stay in business.
"It's very frustrating when you're trying to build a business and the U.S. government isn't having open, honest and peaceful trade with Canada," Mr. Bell said.
The US$787-billion economic stimulus bill south of the border requires that only U.S.-manufactured goods be used in state and municipal infrastructure project bought with the funding.
Ottawa has been hoping the Obama administration would make an exception for Canadian goods in exchange for a guarantee that city and provincial bids in Canada would be open to U.S. firms. Gary Doer, Canada's new ambassador to the U.S., discussed the policies with the U.S, president in a meeting Wednesday, but momentum has yet to be seen.
Other Ontario pipe producers who have lost business because of the U.S. policy say the Canadian government needs to intervene.
IPEX Inc., a Toronto pipe-fittings manufacturer, made headlines in May when it was forced to rip its product out of the ground at the Camp Pendleton Marine base in California because the fittings were Canadian-made. Veso Sobot, director of corporate affairs for IPEX, notes the company's 15 Canadian locations - from Quebec to British Columbia - were all hit with significant financial losses and layoffs.
"I've been with the industry for 25 years, and I've never seen such layoffs in the sector. Ever," Mr. Sobot said.
The irony, Mr. Sobot notes, is that 90% of the materials IPEX uses to manufacture its product comes from Texas. The U.S. is ripping out U.S. products made in Canada, Mr. Sobot said. He adds that, if demand for the IPEX product remains low because of Buy American policies, they will not be able to purchase supplies from the U.S.
"The Americans are actually hurting themselves," Mr. Sobot said. "They can't win like this."
Similarly, he points out that Cambridge Brass is owned by AY-MacDonald, a U.S. company with headquarters in Michigan."The sentiment in America is buy American and forget everything else," Mr. Sobot said.
"The government has got to stand up and propose some serious retaliation," said John Hayward, president of Hayward Gordon Ltd., noting the Halton Hills, Ont.-based industrial-pump manufacturing company has been barred from bidding on U.S. products. He said he has had to switch manufacturing from three Canadian plants to U.S. sites in order to stay in business, a survival decision that has resulted in local layoffs.
What happened to Cambridge Brass is a clear example of a "Buy America horror story," Hayward said.
"This is the kind of unbelievable thing happening between Canada and the U.S.," he said.
"The U.S. is enjoying one-way market access and that just can't go on."
Some potential new businesses are wary of opening their doors in Canada. APG-Neuros, an international aeronautic technology manufacturer, had planned to build a new plant north of Montreal, but opened instead in New York State in October. Omar Hammoud, CEO and president of the company, explained that APG-Neuros would have gone bankrupt if it had built in Canada because 95% of its sales is in the U.S.
"When Americans are required to buy American, they all buy American," Mr. Hammoud said.
He said his hands were tied. The new plant would have created at least 40 jobs for Quebecers in its first year of business.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper met with U.S. President Barack Obama at the end of October to begin trade negotiations, but has not speculated on how long the talks might take.
Melisa Leclerc, spokeswoman for Trade Minister Stockwell Day, said the Canadian government is doing all it can to speed the process - not just for this particular case, but for all Canadian manufacturing that has been affected by the Buy American policy.
"Negotiations for Buy American are on the way," Ms. Leclerc said. "We will continue to make our case until this matter is resolved."
But Mr. Bell said any retaliation now comes too late for Cambridge Brass.
"Losing a project like this - a good winter project that keeps people employed - is terrible," Mr. Bell said.
"Governments on both sides of the border have to see how destructive this is to business."
The city of Sacramento did not immediately respond to a request for an interview.
Read more:
http://www.financialpost.com/news-secto ... z0WB66uzXW
by aplusmnt on Fri Nov 06, 2009 11:37 am 
