Lobbyist: Canada cans copyright deal in exchange for U.S. dropping Buy America
Backroom politics are in high gear in Ottawa and Washington D.C. Now they are out in the public. Maryscott (Scotty) Greenwood is a well known trade lobbyist based in Washington D.C. who has said before that the trade issues can be solved in further talks. She has hinted at possible trade issue such as Copyright in an interview just prior to President Obama's trip to China, but she never linked them to other trade friction issues. In a speech yesterday in Ottawa, she dropped a bombshell: She suggested that Canada could have provisions dropped from the Buy America provisions in the U.S. Recovery & Reinvestment Act, if Canada simply agreed to the current (and very secretive) ACTA proposals that several nations are trying to come to agreement on.
Her assertion is that the best way to move the yard stick is to make the Copyright deal the focal point, which has no linkages to any other industry. President Obama in a CBC interview already stipulated that the Recovery ACT will abide by existing trade agreements.
Greenwood is the Executive Director of the Canadian-American Business Council. Before joining the CABC, Greenwood was appointed by President Clinton to serve as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Embassy in Canada. During her four-year diplomatic posting, she received the U.S. Department of State Meritorious Honor Award for her innovation of an outreach program to governors to foster cooperation on US/Canada issues.
What has been suggested is Canada buckle to a deal agreeing to Copyright Law for "steel" exports. Could this be a slippery path to the destruction of NAFTA?
Update: Feb. 12, 2010 - U.S., Canada Sign Agreement on Government Procurement
Washington, D.C. - United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk today signed a U.S.-Canada agreement on government procurement. The agreement was signed this week in Canada by Canadian Minister of International Trade Peter Van Loan. The new procurement agreement provides for permanent U.S. access to Canadian provincial and territorial procurement contracts in accordance with the World Trade Organization (WTO) Government Procurement Agreement (GPA). In addition, the agreement enables American companies to compete for Canadian provincial and municipal construction contracts not covered by the GPA through September 2011. The United States will provide reciprocal access for Canadian companies to 37 states already covered by the GPA and a limited number of Recovery Act programs. Taken together, these provisions strengthen an already robust U.S.-Canada trade relationship.
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