Christopher Weld Discusses President Trump’s Domestic Steel Pipeline Plan

February 24, 2017

Christopher B. Weld, a partner in Wiley Rein’s International Trade Practice, was quoted by Inside U.S. Trade’s World Trade Online, in a February 24 article about President Trump’s directive for the U.S. Department of Commerce to develop a plan that would require all new and retrofitted pipelines to use steel produced in the United States.

Mr. Weld said the language in the President’s January 24 memorandum “largely mirrors” Buy America provisions that were enacted in 1982.  He noted that the steel industry views the Buy America provisions as the “gold standard,” because they encourage every critical stage of the steel making process to occur in the United States.

“We have had Buy America requirements in place for over 35 years and they have had the positive impact intended by Congress – they have provided a stimulus to production, job creation, and innovation in the domestic steel industry,” Mr. Weld said.

That is a major reason the steel industry advocates for Buy America requirements, arguing that U.S. tax dollars used on public infrastructure projects should use “American-made iron and steel,” he added.