Hmm, the comment seems wrong that the US "had always carved out much of its system from procurement obligations anyhow." Here's a quote from a US Government Accountability Study:
"Under the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), the United States has reported opening more procurement covered by the agreement to foreign firms than have other parties to the agreement. For example, U.S. data for 2010—the most recent available—show that the United States reported $837 billion in GPA-covered procurement. This amount is about twice as large as the approximately $381 billion reported by the next five largest GPA parties—the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Norway, and Canada—combined, even though total U.S. procurement is less than that of the other five parties combined."
The report, and other experts, often point to the terrible lack of good data, but still...
I was using shorthand but referring to the fact that lots of state-level procurement isn't covered by the GPA and Buy American type provisions. I should have perhaps been more precise!
Hmm, the comment seems wrong that the US "had always carved out much of its system from procurement obligations anyhow." Here's a quote from a US Government Accountability Study:
"Under the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), the United States has reported opening more procurement covered by the agreement to foreign firms than have other parties to the agreement. For example, U.S. data for 2010—the most recent available—show that the United States reported $837 billion in GPA-covered procurement. This amount is about twice as large as the approximately $381 billion reported by the next five largest GPA parties—the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Norway, and Canada—combined, even though total U.S. procurement is less than that of the other five parties combined."
The report, and other experts, often point to the terrible lack of good data, but still...
https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-17-168.pdf
I was using shorthand but referring to the fact that lots of state-level procurement isn't covered by the GPA and Buy American type provisions. I should have perhaps been more precise!