Steel Industry Praises President Trump Signing Buy American, Hire American Executive Orders

President Donald Trump (R-N.Y.) is set to sign an executive order this afternoon ordering enforcement and review of the H-1B visa program, popular in the technology industry, on a visit to the headquarters of Snap-On Inc., a tool manufacturer in Kenosha, Wis., according to senior administration officials.
Benchmark Your Current Metal Price by Grade, Shape and Alloy: See How it Stacks Up
He will also use what the White House called the “Buy American and Hire American” order to seek changes in government procurement that would boost purchases of American products in federal contracts, with one aim being to help U.S. steelmakers.
The moves show Trump once again using his power to issue executive orders to try to fulfill promises he made last year in his election campaign, in this case to reform U.S. immigration policies and encourage purchases of American products.
“Strong Buy America domestic procurement preferences for federally funded infrastructure projects are vital to the health of the domestic steel industry, and have helped create manufacturing jobs and build American infrastructure,” said Thomas J. Gibson, president and CEO of the American Iron and Steel Institute, the largest trade group for North American steel manufacturers. “The foundation of a strong Buy America program is the longstanding requirement that all iron and steel-making processes occur in the U.S. for a product to be Buy America compliant — from the actual steel production to the finishing processes. This ‘melted and poured’ standard has been successfully applied since 1983 and must continue to be the standard used in federal Buy America rules for steel procurement. We applaud President Trump for affirming his commitment to full and effective enforcement of our Buy America laws, and to addressing the issue of unfairly dumped and subsidized steel, in signing this Executive Order today.”