MADE IN AMERICA: Trump unleashes new ‘America First’ manufacturing requirements

Made in American used to mean something.

The phrase has weight still to this day, but not in every aspect of manufacturing.  Japan has cornered the market on electronics and small cars, China builds the cheapest everything, and American companies are increasingly outsourcing to places like Mexico items once made within the continental US.

This outsourcing of jobs and commerce has been a nuisance for Donald Trump, who has long railed against the idea of sending jobs overseas that could be done here in the States.

This week, the President is unveiling his latest plan to reverse this outward flow.

President Trump will sign an executive order on Monday to require that the bulk of the steel and ironused in federal contracts is sourced from U.S. firms., according to a top trade adviser, the latest move by the White House to bolster domestic commodity producers.

The action is slated to mandate that 95 percent of steel and iron used for government projects is provided by American firms, the White House’s Peter Navarro told FOX News on Monday, an increase from the existing threshold of 50 percent.

And that’s not all:

Trump will also suggest that the content threshold for other commodities be increased to 55 percent, up from the current 50 percent, and eventually rise to 75 percent, Navarro wrote in an op-ed.

Donald Trump’s prioritizing of American goods and jobs has irked democratic lawmakers who often find themselves ascribing to a more globalist view of the world.