Buy American, Hire American: How Trump's New Order Will Make That a Reality

WASHINGTON — Buy American goods and hire American workers – President Donald Trump says it's just good policy. On Tuesday, after touring tool manufacturer Snap-on in Wisconsin, he signed an executive order aimed at making it a reality.

Among other things, the new "Buy American and Hire American" initiative makes changes to the nation's H-1B visa, or guest worker program.

Instead of allowing the market to be flooded with low wage foreign workers that eliminate jobs and drive down wages for Americans, his order requires visas be awarded only to the most skilled or highest paid applicants.

"Nobody can compete with American workers when they're given a fair and level playing field," Trump said.

Second, the order requires federal agencies to buy U.S. products.

"Buy American" laws have been on the books for more than 80 years, but they've been watered down through the use of waivers and loopholes –  in some cases to appease other countries.

"And the net result is that we've seen a lot of opportunities forgone for factory workers in the United States to provide the steel for our bridges or the construction materials for our schools or the armor plate for our military equipment because of what is sometimes state subsidized competition from overseas," Scott Paul, with The Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), told CBN News.

AAM reports that if Americans committed to spend $64 a year on American products, or if contractors increased the use of American made goods by just 5 percent, that would create 200,000 jobs.    

"New ships, bridges, tunnels and airplanes will be constructed with American hands, American steel and, yes, American tools," Trump vowed.

The push to buy American goods and hire American workers is extremely popular across the political spectrum – Republicans, Democrats and independents.
     
By keeping his promise to those blue collar workers who helped catapult Trump into office, he's potentially widening the base of the Republican Party.
    
The big question: Will buying American products increase costs?

Paul says no.

"You know, a Chinese part may cost a little bit less than an American part; it's worth buying the American part because that money is going to be reinvested in our economy and we're going to have more opportunities to create jobs that way," he told CBN News.

"You have obviously better oversight," he noted. "You may have better quality, but there's also that return to their economy that you don't get when those tax dollars leak overseas."    
    
Trump's executive order requires agencies to review their buying practices, so look for changes towards the end of the year.

American manufacturers hope it's ready in time for the president's big infrastructure package.