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Buy America Act

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Section 165 (49 U.S.C. § 5323j of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act, of 1982 (commonly called the Buy America Act) is a section of the larger STAA that deals with purchases related to rail or road transportation.

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The 1933 Buy American Act applies to direct purchases by the US Federal Government, while the Buy America provisions only apply to purchases related to rail or road transportation, such as the construction of highways, railways, or rapid transit systems. However, the 1933 Act only applied to direct purchases by US federal agencies, while the Buy America provisions of the 1982 act also apply to purchases made by third-party agencies, using funds granted by agencies within the United States Department of Transportation.

The Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964 also contained provision about preferring American-made products.

Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada informs Canadian manufacturers that, as joint signatories to NAFTA and the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), Canadian products are often eligible to be considered to be equivalent to US products. Although under NAFTA, Canadian products purchased with Federal funds, above a certain low threshold, are considered equivalent to US products, NAFTA excluded highway and transit grants from its coverage. And although the World Trade Organization GPA agreement obliges the state governments of 37 US states to treat Canadian products as equivalent to US products, again, above a certain threshold value, the GPA also excludes highway and transit grants that are Federally funded.

The Buy America rules are occasionally amended by the Federal Transit Administration and the Federal Highway Administration.

According to Associated General Contractors of Washington, elements of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 conflicted with the Buy America provisions of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982, although the legislation specified that the existing Buy America requirements would extend to ARRA-funded highway and transit projects.

References

Buy America Act Wikipedia