Trade Cases

USW Supports Buy American/Hire American Executive Order

April 19, 2017

PITTSBURGH, April 18, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ –The United Steelworkers (USW) today issued the following statement on President Trump’s executive order to promote Buy American/Hire American:

“The United States has laws on the books that promote the utilization of domestic materials and equipment when federal tax dollars are expended for certain projects. Taxpayers want their tax dollars used to promote domestic employment and production. Unfortunately, contractors often try to avoid the law through loopholes to buy cheap and often substandard foreign products like many from China. The result has been fewer jobs and less production here in the United States.

“Loopholes, including contractors circumventing the law by segmenting projects, weaken our nation’s manufacturing base and cost jobs. An issue of particular importance to the domestic steel sector involves foreign-owned companies whose business model is to engage in limited U.S. finishing of imported foreign steel slabs.

“They rely on high-priced lobbyists to change the law rather than using domestic steel in their products, while still claiming the final product as ‘U.S. made.’ In these instances, 90 percent of the content has been manufactured overseas, thereby severely limiting U.S. job creation and retention opportunities.

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“The executive order’s provision supporting the long-standing melted and poured standard will help strengthen our defense industrial base and support our domestic steel sector.

“Today’s order applies only to public projects, not private activities. Taxpayers here and in other countries should have the ability to ensure that when their governments spend tax dollars, they support domestic production and employment.