Pass the stimulus package with the "Buy American" provisions intact:
The prospect of a trade war between the US and Europe is looming after "Buy American" provisions were added to President Barack Obama's $820 billion (£573 billion) stimulus package.
...
A spokesman for Catherine Ashton, the EU trade commissioner, said: "We are looking at the situation. The one thing we can be absolutely certain about, is if a bill is passed which prohibits the sale or purchase of European goods on American territory, that is something we will not stand idly by and ignore."
Despite the parlous state of the US economy, some major American firms, including General Electric, are also opposed to the Buy American stipulations, fearing reprisals from overseas and further damage to the global economy.
...
Some industrial giants also question whether the Buy American laws would contravene US obligations reached in various World Trade Organisation agreements.
They also point to the 1930s as a lesson in the perils of protectionism. Congress passed the Buy American Act in 1933, allowing the government to favour US products for government contracts. Restrictions were eased in 1982, but the plans currently working their way through Congress would bring the new law close to its forebear of 75 years ago.
source
This actually shouldn't be a surprise - we talked about it back in February when Obama was spouting all his anti-NAFTA nonsense.
Jimmy Durante singing "Give a Man a Job" - I really like the part where he tells the exterminator to give all his workers 10 weeks vacation so he has to hire more workers
h/t Purple Avenger at Ace of Spades
No comments:
Post a Comment