By: Joe Chidley

I had a conversation earlier today in Montreal with Jeffrey Immelt, the chairman and CEO of General Electric Co. (GE), who was pretty blunt in his assessment of the so-called Buy American provision in President Barack Obama’s stimulus bill.

“I think it’s terrible,” Immelt said, before speaking at the International Economic Forum of the Americas here. “In the end, protectionism is not a philosophy—it’s a cry for help. It’s a sign of weakness.

“That’s not the face that America should want to project. The face we should want to project is, ‘We can compete with anybody, anywhere, anytime.’”

Canadian policymakers and exporters have, of course, been deeply concerned by the Buy American provisions, which limit or prohibit the purchase of foreign goods in projects that receive U.S. stimulus funding.

GE—one of the world’s largest companies, with interests including financial services, manufacturing and technology—has publicly opposed Buy American, along with heavy equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. and other US-based companies, for fear it will spark retaliation from other countries, hindering exports. GE earns half its revenue outside the United States.

Some might see an irony in the fact that Immelt, 53, sits on Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board. But even given the opposition to Buy American, the CEO said business leaders need to be involved in the discussion around policymaking.  “Look, I’m a Republican, so President Obama got elected without my vote,” he said. “But he wants to get different voices inside the administration. I think he’s a good listener.”

On Obama’s recovery plan, Immelt said, “I can’t say I agree with it philosophically every step of the way… But we’re in a period when business has to engage with government in order to get our voice heard, because the status quo is not going to be tolerated by the population.”

Immelt pegged the rise of protectionism as part of a growing anti-business sentiment in the US. “I think the man on the street would say that this recession was created by ‘business,’ quote-unquote, because we all get cast under the same banner,” he said. “I think there’s particular anger right now.”

(Look for more from my interview with Immelt in an upcoming  issue of Canadian Business magazine.)