After months of negotiations, and intense lobbying from the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, Canadian Chamber of Commerce and others, Canada and the US reached an agreement on the US Buy American requirement last month. These laws had effectively shut out Canadian firms from infrastructure projects being financed by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

There are two main aspects to the Canada-US Agreement on Government Procurement.  First,  permanent and reciprocal commitments have been made under the World Trade Organization (WTO) Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) in regards to provincial, territorial and state procurement.  Second, there are temporary reciprocal guarantees of access, which include:

• Canada agreeing to provide US suppliers with access to a range of construction contracts across Canada’s provinces and territories, as well in as a number of municipalities.
• The US agreeing to provide Canadian suppliers with access to state and local public works projects in a range of programs funded by the ARRA.

The two countries have also agreed to start discussions to investigate adding other reciprocal access to procurement markets on a permanent basis.  As well, Canada and the US have agreed to create a fast-track consultation process in the event similar Buy American legislation are approved. 

Trade between Canada and the US represents almost $350 billions of dollars in trade annually and millions of jobs.  For Ontario, one in four jobs in dependent on exports to the US.