The world's collective whine over an American provision to limit steel and iron to domestic sources in projects financed by the stimulus bill is gaining steam. Cries of "protectionism!" ring forth from all corners as if it were a new-found word.
And they are quite good at saying it --along with all the requisite rejoinders. Global business interests send out their best groomed, most intelligent sounding spokespeople to make the rounds for the media. Calling on the WTO to stand up to American egregiousness .
Yet, for all their pomp and its perpetuity, they fail to mention the WTO actually allows countries to make exceptions on government procurements for specific industries. The U.S. stipulated iron and steel. The verbose EU picked drinking water, transportation, telecommunications and energy; Canada protects steel, motor vehicles, and coal. And so on.
The mantra of "protectionism" by these very countries also fails to mention that many of the steel and iron producers in the U.S. are foreign owned.
Unfortunately, Barack Obama is backing down and promising to halt anymore of this crazy "Buy American" talk. He sent letters to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner warning that the provision to buy American could cause "retaliatory measures."
Perhaps it is a noble gesture --Obama not taking advantage of WTO protection provisions.
The high road is all well and good, but not when you travel it alone --absent a world of trading partners who are taking a different route altogether.
Bobby
Idle Wordship