WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump signed an executive order Jan. 31 aimed at encouraging government contractors to “buy American” as part of the administration’s efforts to boost U.S. manufacturing.
The new order asks federal agencies to encourage those who receive federal financial assistance for infrastructure projects to use American materials and products, including iron, steel, aluminum and cement.
“We want American roads, bridges and railways and everything else to be built with American iron, American steel, American concrete and American hands,” Trump said during an Oval Office signing ceremony.
The order follows one Trump signed during his first year in office, which asked federal agencies to “buy American” whenever possible.
Peter Navarro, the director of the White House National Trade Council, told reporters ahead of the signing that the order had spurred a $24 billion increase in the purchase of American-made products and driven U.S. government spending on foreign goods to its lowest point in 10 years.
The new order applies to federal financial assistance such as loans, grants and interest subsidies. Navarro said that some 30 federal agencies award more than $700 billion in such aid each year to more than 40,000 organizations working on projects like bridges, sewer systems, broadband internet installation and cybersecurity.
Navarro told reporters at one point that Trump’s policies were boosting manufacturing and helping workers who “are blue collar, Trump people.”
Ways President Trump Has Changed the Nation Over the Past Two Years
- Tax Reform
The United States previously had the highest corporate income tax rate among the 35 industrialized nations. After the passage of the act, the U.S. corporate tax rate dropped from 35 percent to 21 percent.
This put the United States at a competitive advantage to many other nations. The bill also had a positive effect on business investments and hence economic growth. Companies have accelerated their capital spending in 2018 to take advantage of the tax cuts and the full expensing provision.
- Stock Market
- Record-High Oil Production
- GDP Growth
The economy expanded at a 3.4 percent annual rate in the third quarter of 2018. While the reading came lower than the second quarter pace, it still marked the strongest back-to-back quarters of GDP growth since 2014.