68 Congressional Democrats along with one Republican have sent Barack Obama a letter strongly urging him to reconsider the language in the Trans-Pacific Partnership(TPP) agreement being negotiated by the Obama administration that would "significantly limit Buy American provisions and as a result adversely impact American jobs,workers,and manufacturers."
"We do not believe this approach is in the best interests of U.S. manufacturers and U.S. workers. Of special concern is the prospect that firms established in TPP countries, such as the many Chinese firms in Vietnam, could obtain waivers from Buy American policies. This could result in large sums of U.S. tax dollars being invested to strengthen other countries' manufacturing sectors, rather than our own. At a time when U.S. manufacturing only employs 11.71 million people, a 40% decline from it speak in 1979 and the lowest since 1941, we simply cannot allow this to happen."
Full letter embedded below
Buy American
On 4/30/12 Doug Schoen took to the pages of Forbes and expressed his puzzlement of why Barack Obama and Democrats were not touting the TPP agreement for political gain.
According to the letter above sent to Obama, by members of his own party, that question has just been answered.
Huffington Post points to that answer as well: "The potential 'Buy American' ban also conflicts with a top theme of Obama's re-election campaign -- boosting U.S. manufacturing."
Thanks to Greg Lewis for the tip.