The US Innovation and Competition Act, which passed the Senate on a bipartisan basis earlier this month, included the Build America, Buy America Act, which significantly tightens Buy American rules. congress.gov/bill/117th-con…
The congressional findings section makes clear the multifaceted reasons why the spending of tax dollars for procurement purposes is unlike spending by private market actors.
The bipartisan agreed definition of "infrastructure" goes beyond the "roads and bridges" definition some in the GOP have insisted on, and included water and broadband.
The Act would require OMB to issue guidance so that procurement officers aren't breaking up procurements to avoid applicability of the Buy American Act.
I think the bigger problem is that procurements that are too big avoid Buy American requirements.
The Act would add a "do not decrease US employment" requirement to Buy American waivers.
It incorporates anti-dumping considerations into procurement decisions - a linking up of two systems usually kept separate. Big change.
Trump increased the domestic content requirement from 50 to 55 percent. Congress is now calling on a bipartisan basis for a much higher jump - up to as much as 75 percent.
They kinda sorta fix the Acetris / Trade Agreement Act problem of very minimal value added items being counted as domestic products.
To really fix the problem, Congress should explicitly call for "US end-made product" to be one where "ALL manufacturing processes involved in production of the end product occur domestically."
And here's where the thing appears contradictory: an insistence on WTO compatibility.
If that's the requirement, the US will not be able to get around Buy American not applying for many procurements over $182 k. For coherence, should have called for WTO reform.
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How Industrial Policy Gets Done: Frontline Lessons from Three Federal Officials
I interviewed @katenrg @RonnieChatterji & Satyam Khanna about their time helping set up the offices that are building middle-out economics.
🧵 rooseveltinstitute.org/publications/h…
For arguably the first time since the Roosevelt administration, there's an acknowledged and massive effort to influence the composition and practices of industries operating in the US.
Trillions in public and private capital are moving into communities all over the 🇺🇸.
These industrial policy efforts are not falling from the sky: they're being driven by real people, trying to solve problems in real time.
In this brief, we were interested in one group of said people: the advisors in federal agencies like @ENERGY @EPA & @CommerceGov.
In an election year where both political parties have deployed tariffs as a tool of statecraft, @DemJournal asked @ENPancotti @mattyglesias and me to debate the pros and cons, when tariffs work, and when they are damaging.
🧵 democracyjournal.org/magazine/74/ar…
Liz and I were assigned the "pro-tariff" side of the debate, though we offer caveats.
Our main argument is that it's too easy to put tariffs in a politics/public choice box, when in fact there are long established market failure reasons for their use.
Moreover, having taking the fork in the road towards industrial policy subsidies to internalize positive externalities from decarbonization, it would have been unwise policy/an abdication of fiduciary responsibility to allow imports to wipe out new clean industries.
This is the result of a 4 year review since the beginning of the Biden administration, which has been evaluating whether various Chinese policies comport with US trade laws.
Fantastic panel @HarvardMWC on lessons we can learn from global experiences with industrial policy, with @rodrikdani @straightedge @myrto_kaloup and @rohlamba.
Myrto talking Chinese shipbuilding excess capacity. Has 50-70% market share today.
@Rohan_Sandhu Myrto says Chinese shipbuilding not efficient when taken on their own, but had clear benefits in terms of outward exports / lowering transportation costs / enhancing military capacity. nber.org/papers/w26075
NEW from me @RooseveltFwd: How Biden's comments on US Steel's tie up with Japan's Nippon company indicate what a Foreign Policy for the Middle Class might look like in practice. rooseveltforward.org/2024/04/03/bid…
The idea of reorienting foreign economic policy to build labor power and combat inequality was articulated by @JakeSullivan46 @jennifermharris and others in a series of essays and reports in 2019-20. foreignpolicy.com/2020/02/07/ame…
This doesn't mean that traditional diplomacy has to die out. Indeed, as @dimi and @KanaInagaki report, even after Biden's comments, the US and Japan are slated to make the biggest upgrade to their alliance in 60 years. ft.com/content/df9999…
BREAKING from @AP: @Energy agency announces $6 billion to slash emissions in industrial facilities.
@JenMcDermottAP @anniesartor @SecGranholm @alizaidi46 and me on why this is game changing, and could allow the US to catch up/ lead on industrial decarb. apnews.com/article/climat…
The mix of projects funded here is exciting, including a range of technologies to be deployed by US leader @CLE_CLF, and even projects by Sweden's SSAB. energy.gov/oced/industria…