Today, Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Jim Banks (R-IN) called on the Trump Administration to strengthen enforcement and oversight of important defense trade agreements to ensure they support U.S. businesses, workers, and our industrial base.
Currently, the Department of Defense has 28 of these trade agreements, known as Reciprocal Defense Procurement agreements, with partner countries like Japan, Germany, and the U.K. These agreements waive both the U.S.’s Buy America requirements and similar laws in partner countries, opening up the opportunity for foreign companies to sell products and services to the Department of Defense.
However, a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that entities within the Department of Defense (DoD) skipped important steps in creating and renewing these agreements, sometimes skirting or undermining important Buy America requirements that are meant to put American businesses and workers first.
Read the article.