Canada protests 'Buy American' bill

OTTAWA, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- Canada has lodged a protest with the U.S. ambassador over alleged protectionist U.S. legislation that would impact the Canadian steel industry.

As part of the $819 billion "Buy American" stimulus package passed by the U.S. House Wednesday, foreign iron and steel purchases would be discouraged in favor of domestic manufacturers.

Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the Canadian Parliament Thursday he had notified U.S. ambassador Michael Wilson he was concerned about what he considered to be a protectionist move that possibly violated trade agreements, the Canwest News Service reported.

"This is obviously a serious matter and a serious concern to us," Harper said. "We will be having these discussions with our friends in the United States, and we expect the United States to respect its international obligations."

Trade Minister Stockwell Day told Canwest he intended to bring up the matter with the World Trade Organization.

"History shows clearly that you can't fall back into protectionist measures," Day said. "That happened in the 1930s and what could have been a bad one- or two-year recession turned into ... the Great Depression."