Lawyers Brenda Swick and Dan Ujczo Comment on the "Buy American, Hire American" Initiative to the Canadian Lawyer

In “Trump’s ‘Buy American, Hire American’ has trade lawyers and clients contemplating next move,” published by the Canadian Lawyer, Dickinson Wright Lawyers Brenda Swick and Dan Ujczo discuss the impact of the initiative from a Canadian and American perspective.

Ms. Swick, a partner in the firm’s Toronto office, represents clients in numerous government contracting disputes and says that the softwood lumber dispute is a “perennial dispute and will eventually be resolved through an agreement though at greater costs for Canada perhaps this time.”

Mr. Ujczo, Of Counsel and Cross-Border Business Development Director in Columbus, says issues such as dairy and lumber are the “last bastion of protectionism”. He says the biggest risk to Canadian companies is for those in a supply chain where it’s going to be a U.S. company bidding on this project and they are supplying that customer.

“What you will start seeing is U.S. companies saying ‘We can’t have those Canadian suppliers in our supply chain.’ Canadian companies may have to look at whether it makes sense to set up operations in the U.S.,” said Mr. Ujczo. “We saw that after the Obama stimulus package – a number of Canadian companies picked up stakes and moved a component of production to the U.S.”

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