{"id":32283,"date":"2020-09-30T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-30T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/09\/30\/buy-american-reforms-strike-the-right-balance\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T20:41:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T20:41:18","slug":"buy-american-reforms-strike-the-right-balance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/commentary\/2020\/09\/30\/buy-american-reforms-strike-the-right-balance\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Buy American\u2019 reforms strike the right balance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This year, the House Armed Services Committee advanced a major reform to our defense program acquisition rules that will grow our American manufacturing base right when we need it most. The \u201cBuy American\u201d provision<\/a> in this year\u2019s National Defense Authorization Act is a commonsense plan to source more parts from American-made manufacturers and build more with U.S. labor. But recently some commentators have been misrepresenting the idea of Buy American to maintain the status quo; therefore it\u2019s important to lay out the facts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The critics of this provision have expressed concern that the bipartisan provision drafted to improve our Buy American laws will hurt our closest allies and force them to end their defense relationships with the U.S. In fact, they have gone as far as to say this would undermine NATO and our defense cooperation with Australia and Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such hyperbole is the real danger here. Our nation\u2019s commitments to our allies and partners, including NATO, need to be strengthened, especially at a time when this administration is ending treaties and pulling out of international organizations. What these commentators fail to mention is that nearly all our NATO allies are considered \u201cqualifying countries\u201d by the Department of Defense for purposes of the Buy American Act. This means the language included in the NDAA will not hurt and may even strengthen our ties with these countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the Buy American Act (Chapter 83 of Title 41 U.S.C.) the government must purchase manufactured end items that have been made of \u201csubstantially all\u201d United States component parts, which is interpreted by regulation as being 50 percent or more. Thus, for something to be considered American-made, it only needs to be made of 50 percent U.S. content.<\/p>\n\n\n\t