In his first State of the Union address on Tuesday, US President Joe Biden pushed for Make In America. Stating that the American economy grew 5.7 per cent last year, Biden called for ‘Buy American: buy American products to support American jobs’ campaign. He said that the campaign will transform the US and will help the country win an economic competition against China.
“The federal government spends about $600 Billion a year to keep the country safe and secure. There’s been a law on the books for almost a century to make sure taxpayers’ dollars support American jobs and businesses. Every Administration says they’ll do it, but we are actually doing it. We will buy American to make sure everything from the deck of an aircraft carrier to the steel on highway guardrails are made in America,” Biden said.
“But to compete for the best jobs of the future, we also need to level the playing field with China and other competitors. That’s why it is so important to pass the Bipartisan Innovation Act sitting in Congress that will make record investments in emerging technologies and American manufacturing,” he added.
Under the campaign, Biden announced 4,000 projects, and install 5,00,000 electric vehicle charging stations.
Boost For Semiconductor Industry
In order to decrease USA’s semiconductor dependence on China, Biden announced a $20 billion semiconductor megasite, which will be built by the Silicon Valley giant Intel, in Columbus city in Ohio. Notably, Intel has proposed to increase the investment from $20 billion to $100 billion.
Giving a push to the automobile sector, Biden said that major automobile companies are investing in the US. Giving the example of two major automobile giants, he said Ford is investing $11 billion to build EVs in US, whereas General Motors is investing $7 billion—which is the largest investment in the company’s history—to manufacture EVs.
Addressing the climate concerns, Biden said that his government will “cut energy costs for families an average of $500 a year by combating climate change.”
In his 62-minute long speech, Biden condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin, Biden said, “Putin’s latest attack on Ukraine was premeditated and unprovoked. He rejected repeated efforts at diplomacy. He thought the West and NATO wouldn’t respond. And he thought he could divide us at home. Putin was wrong. We were ready.”
Over the global crude oil crisis, Biden said that the US and 30 other countries would release 60 million barrels of oil to decrease dependence on Russian oil.
