Opposition to "Buy American" provisions in Congress's economic stimulus package continued to build in Washington on Tuesday, with the nation's oldest industrial trade association warning the measure will "backfire" on American workers.
In a letter to Senate leaders, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) said legislation requiring only U.S.-made products to be used in stimulus-funded projects ignores America's international trade obligations.
"Even though this section may be well intended, NAM members are very concerned that the new 'Buy-American' provisions in the bill will potentially backfire on the United States and end up harming American workers and companies across the entire U.S. economy," wrote NAM president John Engler, a former Republican governor of Michigan.
"These new rules could result in mirror-image trade restrictions abroad that would put huge amounts of American jobs and exports at risk."
The National Association of Manufacturers' members include some of America's largest corporations, including Exxon Mobil, Dow Chemical and Sony.
The lobby group's letter comes a day after Michael Wilson, Canada's ambassador to the U.S., sent his own dispatch to Senate leaders calling on lawmakers to drop the controversial clause.
An $819 billion version of the stimulus bill, passed last week in the House of Representatives, bans foreign iron and steel from being used in projects launched under the plan.
The $888-billion Senate version, however, goes even farther. It includes language requiring all stimulus-related projects use only American-made goods.
"Existing 'Buy American' laws and regulations already require the use of U.S. goods for federal projects, except in specifically defined circumstances that are consistent with our obligations under the World Trade Organization and our bilateral and regional trade agreements," Engler wrote. "The proposed provisions ignore those obligations and could trigger a global race toward protectionism that will dearly cost U.S. jobs."