Texas leaders side with Wynne on state law

Mayors of Dallas, Fort Worth tell premier they believe Buy American is harmful

As Ontario takes aim at Texas’ new protectionist Buy American law, the province has two powerful allies: the mayors of Dallas and Fort Worth.

“Obviously, there is a populism and a nationalism and a localism that is happening all over this world . . . and we have got to educate people to un- derstand that they are going to be hurt by this movement,” Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said after a meeting with Premier Kathleen Wynne.

“It is going to be cutting the nose off to spite our face and we’ve got to make sure that we explain to people how economics and business works,” Rawlings said at Queen’s Park on Monday. “When legislation like this passes, we are going down a path that is very dangerous,” he said.

That was a reference to Texas Governor Greg Abbott signing into law last Friday new provisions requiring state projects to buy U.S. iron and steel if the cost doesn’t exceed 20 per cent more than foreign imported products.

It comes as U.S. President Donald Trump wants to renegotiate NAFTA with Canada and Mexico.

Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price emphasized that “there’s quite a bit of wiggle room” in the new Texas law, which takes effect Sept. 1.

“The aim was not to penalize Canada. It was passed as a response to China. They really had not studied the impact of this and what it might do to our trade,” said Price, who vowed to keep the pressure on state officials to ensure the free flow of goods.

Prior to the meeting, Wynne indicated her concern about the new law. “I will raise the whole issue of Buy America with Mayors Price and Rawlings and we have had representatives in Texas talking to legislators about this,” she told reporters.

“This fits in the context of my visit to Washington last week, where I met with a number of senators and congress people and talked to them about how important our integrated economies are and how damaging some of the protectionist initiatives could be,” the premier said.

“My hope is that in my conversation with the mayors today is that . . . they’ll be able to give me some insight into what more we could do to talk to legislators in Texas about what kind of exemptions, what kind of alternatives there might be for Ontario and Canada.”

The Texans will meet with Toronto Mayor John Tory at city hall on Tuesday.