Biden pushes government to buy more U.S.-made products
Executive order creates position to oversee purchases
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Monday signed an order aimed at forcing the federal government to buy more goods produced in the United States, a key part of his campaign pledge to revive domestic manufacturing.
Standing in front of a blue backdrop reading “The Future Will Be Made in America,” the president said he was directing regulators to tighten the definition of American-made products and creating a new position in the Office of Management and Budget to oversee purchases of domestic goods.
The president’s order also will make it harder for federal agencies to issue waivers allowing the government to purchase some products made overseas. Under the new rules, agency officials will be required to justify such choices to the White House.
Biden acknowledged that efforts to promote domestic content have been a familiar part of previous presidents’ agendas. Former President Donald Trump issued new regulations increasing the share of a product’s components that must be produced domestically to qualify as made-in-the-USA one day before he left office.
“This is different and not the same,” Biden insisted.
The executive order will create a website where American businesses can see what contracts are being awarded to foreign vendors, allowing them to alert the government to the availability of a domestic alternative, Biden said.
The order reflects the shifting consensus in American politics away from free trade and toward direct government intervention to promote U.S. manufacturers, a position Trump embraced.
The measure drew labor union plaudits, with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka calling it “a good first step in revitalizing U.S. manufacturing.” But the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said the initiative probably would not bring home lost manufacturing jobs and would boost the cost of government projects.
Turning Biden’s aspirations for reviving domestic manufacturing into reality may be difficult. Trump’s top trade adviser, Peter Navarro, pushed aggressively for similar provisions but was often rebuffed by other officials who argued that his proposals risked backlash from foreign nations as well as higher costs for U.S. taxpayers.
Trump’s last-minute regulations, which take effect Feb. 22, give American companies the edge over foreign rivals even if their products cost 20 percent to 30 percent more.
Major U.S. allies oppose such efforts, fearing the loss of lucrative contracts. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau raised his concerns in a phone call with Biden last week, officials in Ottawa said.
An aggressive Buy America campaign also may complicate Biden’s hopes of securing a united allied front to meet rising Chinese influence.
“The Biden administration is sending a clear signal that it intends to aggressively protect U.S. commercial and trade interests, belying the hopes of U.S. trading partners anticipating a softer touch from the new government,” said Eswar Prasad, a former International Monetary Fund official now teaching at Cornell University. “It is clear that the Biden administration is hardly rushing to usher in a new era of global trade and economic cooperation.”