Buy American = Fewer American Jobs, Not More

Cartoon by Henry Payne.

When Congress inserted “Buy America” protectionist provisions that required some goods (such as steel, cement, and textiles) financed by the stimulus bill to be made in America, our government invited a trade war with our economic partners. Now Canada and China are imposing their own protectionist regulations, potentially destroying well-paid American jobs in the export sector. Other countries may follow suit.

The tragic losers of “Buy America” are free trade agreements and potential job growth in the American economy. Seductively, “Buy America” promises workers they can have it all: cheap goods from China, oil from Canada, as well as protection from global competition. But real life just doesn’t work that way. In reality, “Buy America” is shorthand for fewer jobs as other countries retaliate.

Trillions of international dollars pass through America each year not because we are isolated, but because we are the hub of the world. Terrorists twice attacked the World Trade Center because the building symbolized international trade. They destroyed a building and murdered thousands of innocent Americans, but they failed to vanquish world trade. Sadly, politicians who erect barriers to trade are hostile not only to trade but to our country and to our jobs.

~Diana Furchtgott-Roth