KGO/ABC News Radio: President Obama's Canadian Trip—Discusses Trade & The Economy
Washington, D.C., partner Elliot Feldman, leader of the firm's international trade practice, was featured on KGO Newstalk Radio, San Francisco (ABC Radio Network), on February 19, 2009, discussing President Obama's first foreign trip, to Canada, which is the United States' largest trading partner.
According to reports, President Obama, in his meetings with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, was expected to discuss the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the environment and energy—the United States is the biggest importer of Canadian oil.
Given that during his campaign President Obama suggested he might renegotiate NAFTA, a pact he criticized as not "good for America," and with the "Buy American" provisions in the economic recovery package, Feldman was asked what impact those could have on American-Canadian relations. "It's a complicated question because it ['Buy American'] provoked a fevered discussion in the Canadian Parliament last week and I think may well turn out to be the beginning of a drastic reappraisal of Canadian relations with the United States. Not because it will have a significant impact, in fact, there are provisions in NAFTA . . . which provide some protections for Canada, but much of the procurement in the stimulus package will go through state and local governments and Canada has no access to state and local government procurement . . . because of a failure to negotiate such provisions successfully after NAFTA was put in place. So in fact, there may not be a significant impact and Canada will be deprived of some of the access, not because of the 'Buy American' provisions per se, but the nature of its government procurement relations with the United States."