The new Order: Buy American, Hire American

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump has issued a  “Buy American and Hire American” Executive Order with a particular focus on as steel, iron, aluminum and cement.
The Administration has given all Federal Government agencies that have procurement programmes until September to report to Secretary of Commerce, Ross Wilbur, on how they will implement the Order.
However, “existing rights or obligations under international agreements” will not be affected by the latest Order, which was issued on April 18.
President Trump told workers at Snap-On Tools in Kenosha, Wisconsin, that “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”.
The President also said that “for the first time ever, we are going to crack down on foreign bidders that used dumped steel and other subsidised goods to take contracts from American manufacturers”.
Trump’s latest Executive Order reinforces his previous Orders addressing infrastructure, trade enforcement, and trade deficits.

The new Order means greater scrutiny on the use of imported products, which, in turn, means enhanced monitoring, enforcement of and compliance with existing Buy American laws.
Commenting on the Order, the U.S. legal firm King & Spalding’s international trade practice  said that potentially it has significant implications for both international trade and US manufacturers. The firm said the U.S. President discussed and signed the Executive Order in Wisconsin, where he repeated his promise to bring jobs back to the U.S. “With this action, we are sending a powerful signal to the world. We’re going to defend our workers, protect our jobs, and finally put America first.”
In a Client Alert, the firm said the Executive Order is designed “to promote economic and national security and to help stimulate economic growth, create good jobs at decent wages, strengthen our middle class, and support the American manufacturing and defence industrial bases”.
It said that, through an Executive Branch policy, the Trump Administration is attempting “to maximise, consistent with law, through terms and conditions of Federal financial assistance awards and Federal procurements, the use of goods, products, and materials produced in the United States”.
The Order defines “produced in the United States” with respect to “iron and steel products” to require that “all manufacturing processes, from the initial melting stage through the application of coatings, occurred in the United States”.
It  defines “Buy American Laws” as “all statutes, regulations, rules, and Executive Orders relating to Federal procurement or Federal grants, including those that refer to “Buy America” or “Buy American” that require, or provide a preference for, the purchase or acquisition of goods, products or materials produced in the United States, including iron, steel, and manufactured goods”.
This broad language encapsulates a number of Federal Government procurement laws, says King & Spalding.
Part of the brief to the Commerce Secretary is to assess the impact of waivers on domestic jobs and manufacturing,
He will be expected to develop and propose policies to ensure that “Federal financial assistance awards and Federal procurements maximise the use of materials produced in the United States, including manufactured products, components of manufactured products, and materials such as steel, iron, aluminum, and cement”.
The President expects the first report from his Commerce Secretary within 220 days after issuing his Executive Order with “specific recommendations to strengthen implementation of Buy American Laws, including domestic procurement preference policies and programmes”.
The report to the President is also required to “assess the impacts of all United States free trade agreements and the World Trade Organisation Agreement on Government Procurement on the operation of Buy American Laws, including their impacts on the implementation of domestic procurement”.