Bill Would Require 50% Domestic Content in 'Critical' Goods
Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., want to radically expand the Buy America concept so that no goods determined "critical for American national security or the protection of the U.S. industrial base" could be sold in the U.S. if they weren't at least 50.1% domestic content. Currently, federal purchases under Buy America means goods must have 55% American content unless the goods are not available in commercial quantities, or the cost of sourcing domestically would increase the cost of the procurement by 25% or more.
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"In recent decades, trade and economic policies have contributed to the hollowing out of America’s industrial base and the erosion of our middle class. Today, the U.S. relies on imports of foreign goods for many of our most sensitive industrial and national security needs," Tenney said in a news release announcing the Make it in America to Sell it in America Act. "The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare our nation’s lack of industrial self-sufficiency. Shortages in goods ranging from personal protective equipment to semiconductors underscore the need to rethink our national approach to questions of industrial security." Hawley said, "It’s past time for the U.S. to end its crippling dependency on foreign manufacturing in countries like China and ensure that we actually produce the goods we need here at home.”
If the bill were to become law, the Commerce Department and the Pentagon would create a list of critical goods, and three years after the bill's passage, goods that were not majority American content from that list would not be allowed to be sold. Domestic producers would be allowed to petition the International Trade Commission and the Commerce Department to act against importers of goods that did not qualify. Temporary waivers would be available for goods that need more than three years to re-shore production.