Canada and United States Reach Agreement on Buy American

The Honourable Peter Van Loan, Minister of International Trade, today announced that Canada and the United States have reached an agreement that would allow Canadian companies to participate in U.S. infrastructure projects financed under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act)….

Under the agreement, Canadian suppliers will be provided access to state and local public works projects under the Recovery Act in a range of areas, including programs of the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Environmental Protection Agency. These are areas of procurement where Canadian companies have traditionally been suppliers or sub-contractors in the United States. …

The provinces and territories collaborated to develop an offer that enabled Canada to reach this agreement with the United States. By opening up their procurement markets, the provinces and territories have ensured that Canadian firms have continued access to U.S. markets and that North American supply chains remain strong.

Under the provisions of the World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), Canada and the United States have agreed to offer each other permanent market access at the sub-federal level. This means that Canadian suppliers will have guaranteed access to U.S. sub-federal procurement and U.S. suppliers will have guaranteed access to provincial procurement in accordance with undertakings under the GPA.

As some of the measures announced today are temporary, Canada and the United States have agreed to begin discussions within the year to explore the possibility of additional reciprocal access to procurement markets on a permanent basis. In this spirit, both countries have also agreed to establish a fast-track consultation process should similar Buy American provisions be applied to future funding programs….

Both countries must complete their respective approval processes before the agreement can come into force.

Canada and the United States hope to conclude this process by February 16.