Leibowitz on Trade: The Dilemma of “Buy America”

As many countries and trading blocs like the EU focus on keeping production “at home” to prevent shortages in emergencies, America is joining in. “Buy America” as a slogan and a policy has been around for many years in many forms. But the allure of Buy America runs into practical problems; and that dilemma has been around for just as long as the allure.

The first “Buy American” act was signed into law by Herbert Hoover the day before he left office on March 3, 1933. That year was the last time a president took office on March 4. (The then-recently-ratified Twentieth Amendment took effect in 1933, and changed the dates for inauguration to Jan. 20 and the dates for Congress to convene to Jan. 3, where they remain to this day.) The old Congress was still in session after the 1932 elections and that Congress passed the Buy American Act, an effort to steer federal government procurement and jobs to domestic firms and workers at the lowest point of the Great Depression.