Three Senate Democrats have directed a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) insisting it fully enforce its “Made in the USA” labeling standards in the aftermath of recent agency decisions to settle with companies that allegedly marketed foreign-made goods as domestically produced.
Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin drafted a memorandum to the FTC on Monday stating they were concerned about recent agency decisions to reach “no-fault, no-money” settlements with companies alleged to have sold imported equipment under a “Made in the USA” label, instead of pursuing fines and admissions of guilt from the firms involved.
On April 18th, 2017, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order #13788 into effect reinforcing the Buy American Act and requiring the US government to start implementing more ‘Buy American and Hire American’ policies with additional scrutiny. This not only affects manufacturers/vendors that sell to the US government, but also farmers that supply produce to school districts, government facilities, and more. More specifically, the USDA’s School Lunch program must now comply with the recently signed EO by discontinuing waivers and preferring procurement from US Farmers.
With EO #13788 following its scheduled timeline, there is increasing pressure for the U.S. Government to implement more scrutinized procurement policies regarding the Buy American Act (BAA). Luckily, there is an easy solution for farmers to proactively meet and exceed increased procurement regulations.
Nearly eight months after President Donald J. Trump signed his executive order “Buy American and Hire American,” an expert on certifying whether goods are made in the United States shared with Big League Politics the challenges in certification and enforcing Trump’s intentions.
Adam Reiser, the CEO and founder of Certified, Inc., told Big League Politics he is seeing no action in the executive branch to move the president’s executive order forward.
A source familiar with how the White House drafted the executive order told Big League Politics: “There are zero teeth in it, you know? Let’s of fanfare, lots of publicity, back-slapping and hand-shaking with Trump–and now, it is getting resisted, like as if it meant nothing.”
According to the president’s directive, all agencies were supposed to have turned into both the Department of Commerce and the Office of Management and Budget how they plan to comply. These plans are to include, searchable databases of certified vendors, storage arrangements for the documents and simplifications of their internal procurement procedures.
Reiser said Trump’s executive order was the president’s attempt to bring federal procurement back in synch with the law.
Byrne’s idea was that given support by the Hearst newspapers and by Hoover’s Commissioner of Customs Francis F.A. Eble, who would go on to start the Buy American Club.
“The law says that the U.S. government has to show preferential treatment to U.S. manufacturers,” Reiser said. “It is so the government has to buy from its own.”
Reiser said that from the 1970s, the federal government has been providing waivers to the 1933 law. “In the 1980s and 1990s, it has picked up big-time.”
President Donald J. Trump holding his Executive Order 13788 at the April 18, 2017 Kenosha, Wis., signing ceremony. (White House photo)
A senior administration official speaking on background on Easter Monday, the day before the executive order was signed in the headquarters of the tool company Snap-On in Kenosha, Wisconsin, said the executive order would correct the abuse of the Buy American Act waiver process.
“Okay, so the culture immediately changes across the agencies. We have a lax enforcement, lax monitoring, lax compliance,” the official said. Read more of this post
NOVEMBER 15, 2017 Individual agency compliance plans must be submitted to the Director of the Office and Management and Budget (OMB) and Secretary of Commerce due today for the Buy America Act.
April 18, 2017, President Trump signed the Buy American and Hire American Executive Order #13788 to reduce Federal waiver applications, support the US economy, and hold government agencies responsible for initiatives regarding procuring Made in USA goods. This executive order reinforces the 1933 Buy American Act which was enacted to protect America’s interest by requiring government agencies to prefer Made in USA goods, products, and vendors for government procurements.
Timeline- for Buy America Act
The General Services Administration (GSA), which oversees $66 billion in annual government procurement, will be accountable for securing Made in USA goods and products for their scheduled procurements. Additionally, the GSA will have to provide annual implementation reports to the Secretary of Commerce and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regarding ‘Buy American’ initiatives starting this November of 2017. The Secretary of Commerce must submit these November reports to President Trump annually every January starting in 2019.
Certified, Inc., One of the Nation’s Top Independent Made in USA Certifiers is Well Positioned to Take the Lead Role
BOCA RATON, FL, July 18, 2017 – This week, the Trump administration doubled down on its commitment to buy products made in the USA. President Trump renewed his pledge to bring American jobs back by hosting a Made in USA Conference at the White House on Wednesday, July 19th.
Since before his inauguration, President Trump has been fighting on behalf of American workers and their families. The President recently signed the “Buy American and Hire American” Executive Order to ensure that taxpayer funds are used to purchase USA made products and services. The President is committed to preserving and creating new jobs for all US citizens.
According to Senator Barbara Stabenow (2017), the government recently awarded more than $70 billion in contracts to foreign manufacturers that do not manufacture products in the United States. Furthermore, in 2013, the Department of Defense used 28,887 waivers and spent $19.7 billion on goods produced by foreign companies (Murphy, 2014).
“There are legitimate reasons for buying foreign made products, in some categories like technology and certain raw materials, USA made goods are not available or they may be too costly to include,” said Adam Reiser, CEO, and Founder of Certified, Inc. “However, we use far too many waivers because stipulations and definitions of ‘made in USA’ are too confusing even for an experienced official and authentic certification is too difficult to determine.”
“In 2014, Certified, along with several of its competitors were audited by the FTC and Certified was the only one that met or exceeded government standards,” according to Reiser. “Our Verity One™ system offers regulators and consumers, a cloud-based evidence repository that is accessible from any smartphone device, so records can be easily accessed by clients, procuring agencies, and consumers,” Reiser continued.
“We welcome this important conference and the Trump Administrations’ commitment to promoting and buying products and services made in the USA,” said Reiser. “Supporting USA manufacturers grows our economy and US jobs, and this action is a great indication that President Trump’s heart is in the right place.”
Do you want to know where your things come from?
Download our app it’s still in BETA but you can help build it the name of the App is Verity Scanning Apple Android
President-elect Trump called out Rexnord, a global industrial company, on Twitter for “viciously firing” its employees in a planned move to Mexico. Unlike the deal he brokered at a nearby Carrier plant, there was no deal to save the 300 jobs.
The chairman of Foxconn, the company that assembles most of Apple’s iPhones in China, gave some remarks at a holiday party over the weekend suggesting that Apple could partner with his company to build a new factory in the US.
But most interesting is which parts that factory might produce: large flat-panel screens, which at least one analyst believes could be an indication that Apple is planning to build a TV set.
The Foxconn chairman, Terry Gou, said his company was considering building a $7 billion flat-panel screen factory in the US. Part of that $7 billion could come out of Apple’s pocket, Gou said, according to Nikkei. Read more of this post
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump met with a dozen American manufacturers at the White House on Monday, pledging to slash regulations and cut corporate taxes, but warning them he would impose taxes on imports if they move production outside the country.
Trump, who took office on Friday, promised to bring manufacturing plants back to the United States – an issue he said helped him win the Nov. 8 election – and has not hesitated to call out by name companies that he thinks should bring outsourced production back home.
He asked the group of chief executives from companies including Ford, Dell Technologies, Tesla and others to make recommendations in 30 days to stimulate manufacturing, Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris told reporters.
Trump, a Republican who took over from former Democratic President Barack Obama, was expected to sign executive orders later on Monday to renegotiate the free trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico, and to formally withdraw the United States from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership.
The new president told the CEOs that he would like to cut corporate taxes to the 15 percent to 20 percent range, down from current statutory levels of 35 percent – a pledge that will require cooperation from the Republican-led U.S. Congress.
Moving manufacturing where the labor is cheap isn’t sustainable — but consistently innovating is, Under Armour (NYSE: UAA)CEO Kevin Plank said in a speech recently.
Shoe manufacturing has largely moved abroad to Asia from Europe and the U.S., a function of inexpensive labor in those countries, Plank told an audience at technology tradeshow CES in Las Vegas on Friday.
Now, however, consumers are increasingly demanding locally-sourced goods, making manufacturing in the Americas a more attractive bet, he added.
“We should be bringing jobs back, not just to America, but tightening supply chains all over the world,” Plank said. “We have the ability to do it better. It’s time for all of us to make an investment.” Read more of this post
Ford Motor Co. is canceling plans to build a new manufacturing plant in Mexico and instead is investing $700 million in Michigan, the automaker announced on Tuesday.
The company’s CEO, Mark Fields, told CNN that the move is a “vote of confidence” in President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to create a pro-business environment. Fields emphasized, however, that he did not negotiate any special deal with Trump.
“We didn’t cut a deal with Trump,” he said. “We did it for our business.”
Trump bashed Ford on the campaign trail over the automaker’s plan to invest $1.6 billion in Mexico by shifting its North American small-car production south of the border. Ford had emphasized that the move would not affect U.S. jobs because the automaker would be putting new vehicles into the Michigan plants.
But now Ford will instead build the Ford Focus at an existing plant in Mexico. It will also invest $700 million in its plant in Flat Rock, Mich. and create 700 jobs in an effort to produce more electric and self-driving cars. The automaker has said it plans to build a fully self-driving car by 2021.
“I am thrilled that we have been able to secure additional UAW-Ford jobs for American workers,” said Jimmy Settles, United Auto Workers vice president, according to CNN.
A Ford spokeswoman told The Hill that Trump’s team was notified of their plans Tuesday morning.
Ford is not the only automaker to draw Trump’s ire. Earlier Tuesday, the president-elect blasted General Motors on Twitter, threatening a “big border tax” on GM models made in Mexico.
Nearly eight months after President Donald J. Trump signed his executive order “
