Protectionist ‘Buy American’ provisions back, and Canada’s not happy

WASHINGTON – Buy American provisions are back, and the Canadian government isn’t happy about it.

Canada has staged an intervention over new allegations of U.S. protectionism.

Federal officials at a World Trade Organization meeting this week tabled a list of complaints about measures that have, so far, mainly flown below the radar.

Protectionism had receded somewhat as a bilateral irritant the last few years, as the Keystone XL oil-pipeline dispute jumped to the foreground.

Now the Canadian government is laying out several new grievances: A water-infrastructure law; a transit bill; several state laws and proposed laws; and a plan to hike inspection fees on agricultural products.

Those irritants were raised privately this week at a WTO meeting in Geneva, and they’re now being aired publicly by the Government of Canada.

International Trade Minister Ed Fast issued a statement saying Ottawa is “very concerned” by these new initiatives.