As President Biden is trying to rebuild the economy, he has decided to implement a stricter “Buy American”. The program is meant to have the US government prefer US made goods. With this implementation, Canada’s Finance minister Chrystia Freeland has spoken of reservations she has. Due to how closely the two countries’ economies interact, Freeland is concerned that with “Buy American” Canada’s economy will only become worse. As a result Freeland and the Canadian government have decided that they might limit the amount of Canadian goods US companies can procure. Though this issue has come up before, after the 2008 crash, more strict rules were put in place but were soon upended due to a deal struck between the governments.
My position on the issue has been in between. I understand that the “Buy American” rules could cause harm to Canada’s economy and companies. But the rules could also help bring the American economy back up. I think that if the Government really wants to help the economy to fix the rules so that they aren’t hurting Canada as much. It might not be that easy, but maybe if the increase in threshold didn’t heighten by 20%, the Canadian government would be more inclined to allow the companies to procure Canadian goods. Also with the economies being so intertwined it would be good for this issue to talked out between governments I believe, though I know it is not that easy.
This relates to the class because it is the common good problem. It would be great if the United States government was able to implement the “Buy American” rules without it affecting Canada. Both countries want something the sacrifice that they would have to take is too great or they are just not willing to take it. Another way it relates to class is because both countries have a rather large sway when it comes to foriegn affairs, primarily the US, but both are major players. Also both countries are in the UN which is the largest IGO in the world.