Buy American: A Crisis That Had To Be Defused

The American stimulus plan contained some stipulations where only American construction materials would be used in public works project. This decision was felt to be one of the worst calamities ever and should have been obviated in these times of crisis.

The main protagonists of the international community have mobilized and strengthened their pressures on the new American administration in order to have these stipulations abandoned. They had the obligation to succeed. Had their approach failed, the consequences would have resulted in a worldwide commercial, expensive and painful war, which would have jeopardized our chances of getting ourselves out of one of the worst economical crisis.

International leaders had a strong case to convince President Obama to amend the plan so that the protectionist measures were withdrawn. Besides the rules enacted by the WTO and NAFTA, there are two of the remaining ones that are extremely striking: a new era is about to start and the new American president has undertaken to be part of international relations, as well as of interdependency.

Mr Obama’s driving force is to work for a better world, to more harmonious and respectful international relations than they used to be with the previous administration.

It actually would be quite a paradoxical achievement for Barack Obama to go down in history as the man who didn’t care much about the international rules and triggered hostilities that directly led mankind to a deeper crisis than the one we’re presently going through.

Living in an interconnected world is not just a manner of speaking. The present recession proves it. The financial crisis that stroke Wall Street rapidly turned into an international recession. The same holds true for the actions that have so far been achieved by national governments in the world today. The flapping of a butterfly, especially if said butterfly’s name is the United States of America, might quickly end up as a planetary tsunami.

Interdependency is even more meaningful and not one-sided. As powerful and as influent they may be, the Americans have understood that they need help from other nations. The hundreds of billions of dollars that have been injected into the American economy since the Paulson plan has to get financed through the international markets. The American coffers are running out of money and issuing dollars would dig United States into an even deeper hole. The crisis would be coupled with a hyperinflation.

China, for example, has for several months been widely depending upon the American market to distribute its exported goods, and it’s one of the main holders and buyers of American shares. The United States does need China.

Canada, where the United States is the top exporting market, is another convincing example. In terms of gas and green energy, the United States is Canada’s most important supplier. Our neighbors really do need us.

If all the international leaders have contributed to defuse this potential crisis, it’s nonetheless the president of the United States who holds the key. His courageous decision to remove the protectionist stipulations off his plan, despite the strong pressures from some American lobbies and beyond all kinds of arguments, so striking as they may be, could be after the Guantanamo story, the real test that President Obama will have in order to go down well in history.