On January 30, 2009, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sent a coalition letter to House and Senate leadership urging them to strip “Buy American” provisions from the stimulus bill.   It is an interesting position for any nation’s largest business federation to take, as one would assume that the first thing any business group would favor would be jobs for its own people. The Chamber formally endorses many of the same trade policies that ManufactureThis has advocated over the years.  These include leveling the playing field for trade, enforcing existing trade agreements, helping small businesses to export, ensuring intellectual property protections, and welcoming investment from foreign countries onto our business shores. Thanks, Chamber, we’re with ya on all of that … but you lose us on your opposition to buying American goods made by American workers to complete American projects.   The Chamber is concerned that “Buy American” provisions will spark a trade war.   They seem to forget that the U.S. is the largest consumer market in the world; if other nations decided to stop trading with us, their economies – and their people would suffer because of it.   For example, as U.S. consumer spending has gone down, the New York Times has reported that a German hydraulic valve manufacturer is laying off its workers because its biggest customer – China – is buying fewer of its parts because we are buying fewer of the end products from China. We do hold something of a trump card, as export-led economies around the world depend on our consumer markets.    They may yell at us through the media or send our political leaders unpleasant emails, but rocking the anti-U.S. trade boat would be to their own detriment.  China is already experiencing massive layoffs in its manufacturing sector as our consumer demand has gone down.  ManufactureThis was startled to discover that R & D as a percentage of U.S. GDP ranks 6th in the world.  We would have thought we were at least in the top three.   “Buy American” provisions would re-invigorate the advances that come along with renewed vigor in the manufacturing sector, while also ensuring not only that American workers will have jobs today, but that investment in emerging technologies and advanced training of our own human resources will put us in solid economic and national security stead for years to come. ManufactureThis muses that perhaps it should write its own letter to the Chamber and explain these screamingly obvious nuances.