What does “Buy American” mean for Canadian manufacturers?

Manufacturing is essential. These are three little words with big meaning, particularly in these uncertain times.

Manufacturing makes up roughly 11 per cent of the country’s GDP, and more than 1.7 million Canadians are employed in the sector. Nearly two-thirds of our exports are some form of manufactured good, and more than 80 per cent of these goods go to our CUSMA partners.

That’s why it can be troubling for Canadian manufacturers when they hear the new resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. already talking about protectionism.

Dennis Darby, president/CEO of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME), is right when he said that Canada, Mexico, and the United States don’t trade with each other anymore, they build things together.

Let’s hope that President Biden is posturing or even doing a little peacocking. Let’s hope that his message is meant for other jurisdictions around the world, not the ones around the corner. His Buy American stance means that our federal government has some work to do to promote unity in North American manufacturing and help maintain Canadian manufacturers’ access to the U.S. government procurement market.

“Excluding each other from our respective government procurement markets could seriously hurt our precarious economic recovery,” said Darby.

CME believes it is imperative for Canada to immediately renew and strengthen diplomatic ties with the new U.S. administration to maintain our trading relationship, which is the most comprehensive in the world.

It is not alone in voicing its concern.

“While this [Buy American] policy could affect bidding on large infrastructure projects, the industries that our members are focused in have many supply chains that are highly integrated between our countries and we have a trade deal in place that should take precedent,” said Robert Cattle, executive director of the Canadian Tooling & Machining Association.

Cattle believes that while this policy could cause some problems, particularly in procurement, they should be easily handled thanks to our close economic ties with our southern neighbour.

“If President Biden’s administration’s efforts can foster a strong U.S. economy, this will be positive, for I have always believed that a strong U.S. economy is good for Canada,” said Cattle.

From his day job’s office at Laval Tool, Tecumseh, Ont., Jonathon Azzopardi, chair of the Canadian Association of Mold Makers, agreed with this assessment.

“We live or die by the United States. There's no better way to put it,” he said. “A strong American economy is as important to Canada as it is to the U.S. If Buy American helps support that, then we support it too. We have come to the conclusion that you can actually have ‘made in America,’ but it doesn't have to be at the expense of Canada,” said Azzopardi.