Free Trade Within Canada: For Canadians Only

 Northrop Grumman Corp. can’t challenge Canada’s award of a $140 million contract for weapon- targeting equipment to Lockheed Martin Corp. because it isn’t a Canadian company, the nation’s highest appeals court ruled.

Only domestic companies can file complaints based on the country’s internal free-trade agreement, known as AIT, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled unanimously today.

Allowing non-Canadian suppliers to bring complaints based on the AIT would lead to “problematic results,” Judge Marshall Rothstein wrote for the nine-member court. Los Angeles-based Northrop “would gain rights under the AIT despite its government not being a party.”