President Joe Biden and the President and CEO of Siemens USA are set to announce Friday a major domestic manufacturing investment as part of his plan to bolster his “Made in America” policy, the White House said.
The announcement is expected to come at an event where the president will unveil a new update to the Buy American Act, which will mandate that a product must have a higher share of components made in the U.S. to qualify as “Made in America.”
Under the current rules, a product purchased with taxpayer money can be considered “Made in America” if it contains 55% of components made in the United States; Biden will announce Friday that beginning in October of this year, that threshold will jump to 60%, according to senior administration officials, which will jump to 65% in 2024 before ultimately leaping to 75% in 2029.
This, the administration says, will close loopholes in current regulation while allowing businesses to adjust supply chains for using American-made components. It will also create a framework allowing the government to set price preferences for “critical products and components.”
“The final rule will ensure taxpayer dollars create good-paying jobs here at home, strengthen critical supply chains and position US businesses to compete in strategic industries,” an administration official said.
As part of the White House’s announcement, electronics manufacturer Siemens USA will announce it will expand its domestic production, in keeping with the President’s goals of increasing domestic manufacturing and ramping up American tech development. Siemens USA president and CEO Barbara Humpton is set to announce a $54 million investment to expand domestic production, and the creation of 300 new electronic manufacturing jobs to produce everything from electric vehicle chargers to data centers.
Some of those jobs will be located in Texas and California.
These announcements were signaled earlier in the week, during Biden’s State of the Union address.
“There’s been a law on the books for almost a century to make sure taxpayers’ dollars support American jobs and businesses. Every administration says they’ll do it, but we are actually doing it,” Biden said Tuesday night.
Biden also called upon tech manufacturers to “level the playing field with China and other competitors” in his Tuesday address.
The president also touted major planned investments by Intel, General Motors, Boeing and MP Materials to create thousands of jobs at sites across the United States. Combined, the companies have announced a $47.7 billion investment in manufacturing.
The U.S. spends $600 billion annually to buy goods and services, the White House said, and the president “believes that when taxpayers foot the bill, that spending should invest in American workers, manufacturers, and small businesses.”
At an event in Pennsylvania last summer, Biden said that the current 55% threshold “is not high enough,” adding that “contractors don’t have to tell us the total domestic content of their products. They just have to tell us that they hit the threshold, with nobody checking.”
“They’ve got a new sheriff in town,” he added. “We’re going to be checking.”
