‘Buy American’: Trump wants domestic procurement in big infrastructure bill
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump has made it clear he wants Buy American rules in the massive infrastructure program he’s planning, launching an ardent defence of domestic-purchase requirements that can cause tensions with other countries.
Critics of such Buy American provisions say they not only freeze out foreign competition, but hurt Americans too, by driving up the cost of construction, which means taxpayers get fewer roads and bridges for their buck and fewer construction jobs in the long run.
But the measures have considerable political support and the president-elect has strongly suggested, in several speeches, that he sees them as part of a historic, $1 trillion infrastructure bill he’s urging lawmakers to pass.
“My administration will follow two simple rules — buy American and hire American,” Trump told a cheering crowd Thursday, and he repeated similar remarks Friday, at campaign-style rallies he’s continued to hold since the election.