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mr. president, you get generally high marks for your performance to date. if you want to go to the head of the class, take a cue from the cme members 20/20 consulted, and get to work on the canada-us trade file. 20/20 started with veso sobot, director of corporate affairs at ipex management inc., a canada-based exporter of thermoplastic pipes, with 15 plants across canada and two in the us. on one hand, sobot complimented obama for working well with prime minister stephen Harper on the canada-us trade file. “the us congress’ Buy American policy represents protectionism at its most blatant,” sobot said. “i think president obama recognizes this. He understands how protectionism will hurt the us’ 30 | www.2020MAgAzINE.CA President Obama: Advantage Canada? by eK HornbecK He has been on the job for less than two years — so is it too early to ask if President Barack obama has been good for Canada, and good for Canada’s manufacturers and exporters? effort to export its way out of the recession. and i am impressed with how our prime minister has gone about working with president obama to try to correct this clear us protectionism.” on the other hand, sobot cautioned that canada needs deeds, rather than more words, from obama when it comes to trade. “president obama says he wants to double the us’ exports to canada. but if canada were to impose on the us the same restrictions that congress has imposed on canada, he couldn’t achieve this goal. He’s really got to look at this issue from a reciprocal trade perspective. as for the question of whether the president been good for canada — we will know the answer to that question after the next round of canada-us trade talks.” to get a western canadian perspective on president obama, we turned to craig mcintosh, president and ceo of custom plastic parts maker “Any strategy to restore the US [economy] will involve Canada, and a ‘North American’ approach – we are stronger together.” acrylon plastics inc. (head office in winnipeg, mb). He shared the following: “in terms of benefiting canada, the fact that president obama has continued the stimulus effort in the us and kept the us economy pumping when it might otherwise stall — that’s been very important. we’ve seen how
the stimulus has benefited our us customers, and these benefits have trickled down to our company.” president obama has also been good for canada-us ties, mcintosh said. “at a philosophical level, president bush came across at times like he was trying to build a ‘Fortress america,’ with high security at the border, etc. compared to the bush years, obama’s more open attitude [toward the world] appears to be making a difference at the border, here in manitoba. i’m seeing fewer trucks turned back, for example.” next, we spoke with lorne Janes, the president of paradise, nl-based continental marble of canada ltd., a supplier of cast marble, granite, flooring and home furnishings. continental marble has exported to the us for about 25 years. “the question of whether president obama has been good for canadian manufacturing/exporting is a bit selfishsounding to me,” Janes said. “instead, we in the canadian business community, as we think of how president obama can help canada, at the same time [need to consider] how can we help him with the us business community. we, as canadians, need to remember that nothing in life is one sided, that there is always a balance sheet. we must remember this,” Janes said. “any strategy to restore the us [economy] will involve canada, and a ‘north american’ approach – we are stronger together. i think we have a better chance of success with president obama, on issues like the reduction of tariffs, refinements to trade regulations, getting things across the border and Buy American, than we would with some of his white House predecessors,” Janes said. we also spoke with John Hayward, president of Hayward gordon ltd., which engineers, designs, manufactures and distributes equipment serving the wastewater sector. Hayward gordon ltd’s head office is located in Halton Hills, on. “During president obama’s visit to canada, we heard a lot about the importance of the canada-us relationship and his desire to see the trade relationship grow,” Hayward said. “this is a genuine sentiment, i think, on the us side. but there’s a “We need to see actions on Buy American, particularly from the president, that live up to the spirit of this talk of the importance of mutually beneficial trade between our two countries.” major disconnect, in that Buy American provisions keep cropping up in us stimulus plans. “i understand the us’ frustration with trade partners who manipulate currencies, or put up broad barriers to us exports. canada is not, however, one of those partners. i hope that the us can address this inconsistency between what is said in public about trade with canada, and what actions take place in congress. we need to see actions on Buy American, particularly from the president, that live up to the spirit of this talk of the importance of mutually beneficial trade between our two countries.” “Canadians are very interested in what President Obama has said so far about trade. In his State of the Union address, President Obama committed to doubling US foreign trade in five years. However, his preoccupation with the BP oil spill, with health care, etc. means that he has not expended much energy on trade relations, including Canada-US trade. Also, many of President Obama’s Congressional allies question the value of free trade agreements to the US. This combination of political distractions and tepid support for free trade among Democrats, means President Obama has found little traction on trade issues.” Alan S. Alexandroff, co-director, G-20 Research Group, at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs CANADIAN MANUfACTUrErS & ExPOrTErS’ MAgAzINE | 31
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