Trump Signs 'Buy American' Executive Order
President Donald Trump signed the “Buy American and Hire American” executive order (here) on April 18 (see 1704180021) , which prioritizes the selection of U.S.-made goods in federal procurements and financial assistance awards. The order directs every executive agency to “scrupulously” monitor, enforce and comply with Buy American laws and minimize the use of Buy American waivers immediately. Agency chiefs are required by Sept. 15 to evaluate monitoring, enforcement and implementation of Buy American compliance, examine waiver usage according to type and impact on domestic jobs and manufacturing, and propose policies to ensure maximization of Buy American awards and procurements, including for “manufactured products; components of manufactured products; and materials such as steel, iron, aluminum, and cement,” the order says.
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The directive also tasks the commerce secretary and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director to consult with the secretary of state, the labor secretary, the U.S. trade representative and the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council to issue guidance to agencies by June 17 on how to carry out the required assessments and policy creation. Agency heads are then required to submit their assessments’ findings to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and OMB Director Mick Mulvaney by Sept. 15.
Ross and the U.S. trade representative are also required to evaluate the impacts of all U.S. free trade agreements and the World Trade Organization Government Procurement Agreement on the operation of Buy American laws, including implementation of domestic procurement preferences, by Sept. 15. Ross, in consultation with Mulvaney, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and the U.S. trade representative, is required to send a comprehensive report on the agencies’ assessments to Trump by Nov. 24. Subsequent reports on agencies’ Buy American implementation are required by Nov. 15 in following years.
The order also calls for “judicious use of waivers,” calling for public interest waivers to Buy American statutes to be construed to “ensure the maximum utilization of goods, products, and materials produced in the United States,” and for final decisions on public interest waivers to be made by the head of the relevant agency. Agencies must also take into account whether a “significant portion” of the “cost advantage” of a foreign product results from the use of dumped steel, iron or manufactured goods, or the use of “injuriously subsidized” steel, iron or manufactured goods, integrating “any findings into its waiver determination as appropriate,” the order says.
“Together, we’re going to do everything in our power to make sure that more products are stamped with those wonderful words, ‘Made in the USA,’” Trump said during an address in Kenosha, Wisconsin, before signing the order. He added that domestic procurement standards have been “gutted” over the years by “excessive waivers and reckless exemptions,” and said the U.S. has lost “countless” jobs and contracts to “cheap, subsidized and low-quality foreign goods.” Trump pledged to “crack down” on foreign bidders using dumped steel and subsidized goods to win U.S. government contracts. “Everyone in my administration will be expected to enforce every last Buy American provision on behalf of the American worker, and we are going to investigate every single trade deal that undermines these provisions,” he said.
House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee ranking member Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., in a statement (here) said more “concrete action” is necessary to make sure U.S. procurement policies aren’t hurting domestic workers. “Recent studies point to the U.S. losing out in what is supposed to be reciprocal access to procurement markets in countries with which we have trade deals," he said. “We will keep waiting for the ‘big things’ on trade the President keeps promising." U.S. Chamber of Commerce Chief Policy Officer Neil Bradley in a statement (here) sounded a reticent tone about the executive order, saying that expanding Buy American policies will hamper domestic economic and job growth. “If the goal is to grow the economy and create jobs, which the administration has indicated, it’s important to open more procurement markets for American companies and attract the best and brightest talent,” Bradley said.