Proposed Obama Trade Agreement would Ban Buy America Laws

[The Straight Story]

Proposed Obama Trade Agreement would Ban Buy America Laws

A new free trade agreement being negotiated between the Obama administration and countries along the Pacific Rim could mean the end of the “Buy American” policy currently in effect.

The proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which has been negotiated largely in secret, would prevent the U.S. government from giving preference to American companies for federal contracts.

Around since the 1933, the so-called “Buy American” policy allows domestic companies to put in more costly bids for government work and still receive the contract, even if a foreign business offers to provide the product or service for less money.

News of this provision in the Trans-Pacific Partnership prompted 68 House Democrats and one Republican to urge President Barack Obama to reconsider any agreement that ends “Buy American.”

http://www.allgov.com/news/top-stories/proposed-obama-trade-agreement-would-ban-buy-america-laws-130329?news=849583

[djean111]

1. As if Obama isn't going to sign the TPP with eleventy-hundred souvenir pens and a big smile.

He has been on board with the TPP for quite a while, and in my opinion all the petitions and phone calls and entreaties in the universe mean nothing to him.
I don't hate Obama, I hate what he is doing. Also think it weird that some want him enshrined and venerated no matter what - he is just another president; evidently Congress is either stronger than he is, or he is complicit - in any event, he doesn't need votes any more, so why all the upset feelings when he is criticized? Was "holding his feet to the fire" just another piece of campaign blather?

[ProSense]

2. Misleading

This is a provision that was in the President's stimulus bill. Still, it should be continued

That ‘Buy American’ Provision
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/that-buy-american-provision/

Help U.S. Manufacturing

Sherrod Brown is a Democratic senator from Ohio.

<...>

Yet when some of us in the Senate proposed strengthening the buy-America laws, and enforcing the buy-America rules, that have been around for decades, some economists, newspaper publishers and business executives accused us of being — gasp — protectionists.

An $800 billion trade deficit and they accuse the United States of protectionism? Two-billion-dollars-a-day net outflow of trade dollars and they claim we are closing our borders? In Ohio, people would say that accusations like that don’t pass the straight face test.

The purpose of buy-America laws is to promote United States manufacturing and encourage new industry — both of which come in handy when a country is trying to put its economy on the right track, maintain global economic leadership and create jobs for the millions of American standing in unemployment lines.

Let’s be clear. Buy America does not mandate the purchase of United States goods. Buy America allows waivers in cases where American-made products necessary for a project are not readily available. Waivers are also allowed where total project cost is 25 percent more expensive than it would be if imports were used. The buy-America provision in the economic recovery package maintains this flexibility.

It does not violate World Trade Organization agreements or any international trade laws. It encourages the use of taxpayer dollars to invest in American companies and create jobs. Buy America is a choice. Do we want to use billions in tax dollars to create jobs in Ohio or in China?

- more -

http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/that-buy-american-provision/#sherrod

Trade War Brewing Over Obama's "Buy American" Policy
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/04/trade-war-brewing-over-ob_n_163798.html

After the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which contained a "Buy American" clause, was made U.S. law with strong backing from Obama, Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim warned that his country could mount a legal challenge to U.S. economic protectionism, which has become an issue due to the late 2000s recession and which Brazil ardently opposes, at the World Trade Organization.[92]

<...>

Aside from Canadian lobbying against "Buy American" provisions in the US stimulus package, relations between the two administrations had been smooth up to 2011. On February 4, 2011, Harper and Obama issued a "Declaration on a Shared Vision for Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness".[95][96]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_policy_of_the_Barack_Obama_administration#Brazil