Trumps signs new order extending Buy American to construction loans, grants

The Trump administration is pushing agencies to apply stricter “Buy American” requirements to more than $45 billion in spending for infrastructure and construction projects.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order today strongly encouraging agencies to promote and endorse prime and subcontractors who receive loans, grants and other federal financial assistance to use American-made steel, iron, aluminum, concrete and other building and manufactured materials.

Peter Navarro, the assistant to the President and director of Trade and Industrial Policy at the White House, said in a briefing with reporters Thursday the executive order builds on the one the president signed in April 2017. That almost two year-old order required agencies to review their procurement rules and get rid of any loopholes that would give foreign products an advantage over American ones.

“What we’ve seen interestingly is an increase of $24 billion in spending on American made products,” Navarro said. “U.S. government spending on foreign goods has reached its lowest point in 10 years.”

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