The buy American laws does not violate international treaties. Anyway, I don’t believe America should buy all their steel from America but I do think that it is reasonable to expect that during an economic downturn a government should spend the majority of tax payer dollars locally.

I just don’t think that they should pay too high a premium for local content. The problem is that there are few areas in the treaties where the government is allowed to base procurement decisions on the country of origin. As a consequence in the area’s where there is wiggle room the “protectionism” is disproportionately large. Perhaps revisiting the treaties is not such a bad idea.

You should definitely read this VoxEU article which details how “Buy American” is bad. This is potentially in violation of multilateral agreements and opens the U.S. to retaliatory measures. Moreover, the number of jobs ‘created’ by this measure could dwarf those lost in a retaliatory move.

Really, this is just a subsidy that hurts Americans and lines the pockets of captains of industry. Do not be fooled by the jobs rhetoric. That is purely for populist purposes. Economically speaking, “Buy American” is poison.