Trump

Last week, President Trump issued an executive order aimed at encouraging the expansion American manufacturing of essential medical products — Executive Order on Ensuring Essential Medicines, Medical Countermeasures, and Critical Inputs Are Made in the United States (August 6, 2020) (the “Order”).  The Order sets forth an ambitious plan requiring extensive agency action on a tight timeline that suggests a significant impact.  Closer examination of the Order raises significant questions about the practicalities of implementation and the realistic impact of the Order once the substantial stated exceptions are taken into account.

The List

The heart of the Order is a list of Essential Medicines, Medical Countermeasures (“MCMs”), and Critical Inputs to which the Order’s requirements apply — but the key components of this list do not yet exist.  Instead, the Order directs the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) to produce the list within 90 days and to include on the list Essential Medicines, MCMs, and Critical Inputs “that are medically necessary to have available at all times in an amount adequate to serve patient needs and in the appropriate dosage forms.”

The Order provides the following definitions that give some insight into what may be on the FDA’s eventual list:…
Continue Reading Trump Administration Increases Uncertainty for Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

[This article was originally published in Law360.]

On July 21, 2017 – and during “Made in America Week” – President Trump issued Executive Order 13806 on “Assessing and Strengthening the Manufacturing and Defense Industrial Base and Supply Chain Resiliency of the United States” (the “Manufacturing EO”).  The Manufacturing EO sets forth a policy stressing the importance of having a “healthy” domestic “manufacturing and defense industrial base and resilient supply chains” to meet “national security” needs.  This policy comes on the heels of President Trump’s April 2017 “Buy American and Hire American” Executive Order (the “Buy American EO”), which announced a policy and action plan to increase U.S. manufacturing capabilities by “maximiz[ing]” the Federal Government’s procurement of “goods, products, and materials produced in the United States.”

The Manufacturing EO calls for a sweeping review and assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the defense industrial base (“DIB”) and supply chains, and cites the need for the United States “to surge in response to an emergency.”  This review stems from the Administration’s stated conclusion that the “manufacturing capacity and defense industrial base of the United States have been weakened by the loss of factories and manufacturing jobs.”  Although a report on this review is not due until April 2018, the Manufacturing EO’s underlying policies and reporting requirements offer contractors an important glimpse into the Trump Administration “America First” vision and potential impacts on federal procurement.…

Continue Reading Six Takeaways from President Trump’s Executive Order on Assessing Manufacturing and the Defense Industrial Base

[This article was originally published in Law360.]

President Trump took a significant step this week towards implementing his often touted objective of protecting U.S. manufacturers and workers by signing the “Presidential Executive Order on Buy American and Hire American” (the “EO”) on April 18, 2017.  In addition to addressing reforms to the H1-B visa program to protect U.S. workers, the EO sets forth a policy and action plan intended to “support the American manufacturing and defense industrial bases” by “maximiz[ing]” the Federal Government’s procurement of “goods, products, and materials produced in the United States,” and mandates strict compliance with the statutory and regulatory regimes for domestic sourcing preferences and restrictions (jointly referred to as “Buy American Laws”), such as the Buy American Act (41 U.S.C. §§ 8301–8305) and other buy America legislation, and implementing regulations.

In short, and as to procurement, the EO:

  • Requires all agencies to assess their monitoring, enforcement, implementation, and compliance with Buy American Laws and the use of waivers to those laws, and to propose policies designed to ensure that the use of domestic sources is maximized, consistent with existing law.
  • Requires an assessment of the impact on domestic procurement preferences of all free trade agreements and the World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement.
  • Elevates to the Head of the Agency the granting of any public interest waivers to Buy American Laws requirements and requires such determinations to consider whether the cost advantage of the foreign product is due to dumping or the use of an injuriously subsidized product.
  • Requires the Secretary of Commerce to submit a report to President Trump within 220 days of the date of the EO which shall include “specific recommendations to strengthen implementation of Buy American Laws, including domestic procurement preference policies and programs.”
  • Requires agencies to submit annual reports to the Secretary of Commerce and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget on agency efforts to maximize the procurement of domestic products, and requires the Secretary of Commerce to submit an annual report to the President based on the agency submissions.

Although this EO establishes the Administration’s policy to strictly enforce Buy American Laws to maximize the use of domestic manufacturers and labor, it does not change existing law or regulation.[1]

Here are our key takeaways.…

Continue Reading Key Takeaways From President Trump’s “Buy American” Executive Order

On February 28, 2017, President Donald J. Trump addressed a joint session of Congress for the first time and outlined his plan for a “new chapter of American Greatness.”  That plan included continued emphasis on protecting United States labor and manufacturing, and can be summarized in a few words often repeated by President Trump: “Buy American and Hire American.”  This rhetoric foreshadows the significant likelihood that enforcement of requirements for domestic sourcing and content, including the Buy American Act,  41 U.S.C. §§ 8301–8305, and the Trade Agreements Act, 19 U.S.C. §§ 2501–2581, will be a priority of the Trump Administration.
…
Continue Reading President Trump’s First Address to Congress Foreshadows Increased Buy American Act Enforcement