President Biden will sign an executive order on Monday with a view to stepping up his efforts to “Buy Americans” after years of “Buy Americans, American Employees” initiatives from his predecessor.
The order, which the commander-in-chief will sign this afternoon, aims to increase domestic production by capitalizing on the federal government’s purchasing power and closing gaps for companies operating abroad.
If the pseudonym “Buy American” sounds familiar, it’s because President Donald Trump has signed several executive actions focused on his “Buy American, American Employees” agenda, which dates back to early 2017.
In April of that year, the 45th president signed an executive order encouraging federal agencies to purchase iron, steel, and manufactured goods from the United States.
Two years later, he signed two more actions, focused on encouraging the use of US-made materials in federally funded infrastructure projects.
Executive orders are legally binding and are therefore published in the Federal Register. Instead, executive actions are more often symbolic efforts to promote change.
Trump’s directives encouraged new recipients of grants and loans to use iron, steel, aluminum, cement, and other U.S.-made products, but did not mandate it.
What Biden will sign on Monday is an order, which will increase how much of a product needs to be made in the US for it to qualify as American-made.
It will also create a website for Americans to see what contracts are awarded to foreign sellers and a function at the Office of Management and Budget to implement the federal procurement effort.
The federal government spends nearly $ 600 billion annually on goods and services, which Biden officials hope the order will keep longer in the United States.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday in a call, a senior Biden administration official was pressured about the similarities in the “Buy American” message.
“The previous administration issued numerous versions and orders. But when you look at the result, there was no real material change, neither in the way the internal content was measured, nor in the strictness of the internal content requirements, nor in the use of derogations from the Buy American provision, “he argued. the official.
“So, you know, in practice, nothing happened.”
However, Trump has repeatedly accused Biden of plagiarizing him while pursuing the “Buy American” campaign.
In July last year, as the general election campaign was in full swing, Trump told reporters outside the White House that Biden “plagiarized from me, but he can never get it out. She likes plagiarism. ”
With Post threads