Oh great....so now the taxpayer funded stimulus money will be used to strengthen someone elses economy...not ours. Even though we are in a depression. And that will create jobs in another country...not our country. Great. Oh and there is nothing mentioned about not funding the mexican truck project. So we may end up with mexican trucks on our roads.

US, Canada reps: 'Buy American' talks progressing
US, Canadian officials say progress being made toward resolving 'Buy American' dispute

AP) DALLAS (AP) - The U.S. and Canada are progressing toward resolving a dispute over "Buy American" provisions included in the $787 billion U.S. economic stimulus package that have rankled the Canadian government.

Negotiators are working out a compromise, but those talks could take time, Canadian Trade Minister Stockwell Day said after meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk.

"We think there's something workable here," Day said. "This is not a sprint, this is a marathon."

Representatives from the U.S., Canada and Mexico, which make up the North American Free Trade Agreement, were in Dallas for their annual meeting to discuss their countries' commercial future.

The "Buy American" language in the stimulus package gives preference to U.S. producers for public works recovery efforts. It has angered officials because Canadian businesses can't bid on such projects.

Also after the meeting, Kirk said he was heartened that provisions banning funding for a Mexican truck program haven't been included in 2010 appropriation bills.

"We're at least encouraged that we won't be handcuffed to the appropriations language," said Kirk, a former Dallas mayor.

NAFTA, enacted in 1994 to remove trade barriers among the three nations, required the United States to let Mexican trucks on American highways. But opposition from U.S. labor unions and consumer groups stalled a pilot program that permitted up to 500 U.S.-certified trucks access deep into the U.S.

President Barack Obama later signed an appropriations bill which prohibited spending for the plan, preventing Mexican-licensed trucks from traveling beyond commercial zones along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Mexico retaliated by imposing tariffs on dozens of U.S. products.

"We hope that the solution is coming to remove the compensatory tariffs over this issue," Mexican Secretary of the Economy Gerardo Ruiz Mateos said after the meeting.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/ ... 8114.shtml