US senators urge President Biden to drop trade waivers, prioritize firms in COVID relief effort

To allow foreign companies to bid for work funded by the US $1.9 trillion relief bill, Thirteen Democratic U.S. senators on Monday urged President Joe Biden to act quickly to suspend waivers to the Buy American program, said Reuters early Tuesday in Asia.

The news piece cites a letter spearheaded by Senators Tammy Baldwin and Sherrod Brown, the senators called on Biden to use his executive authority to temporarily suspend waivers before any contracts can be awarded, to ask for “close loopholes that could allow the historic investments included in COVID relief legislation to go to foreign firms.”

“The senators said U.S. trade policies - including the waivers that allow firms from 60 countries to bid for government contracts - opened double the opportunities to foreign firms than were open to U.S. companies in the next five largest trade partners combined, citing a 2017 study done by the Government Accountability Office, a congressional watchdog agency,” said the news.

FX implications

While the trade-positive offered an uptick to the AUD/USD prices which started picking up bids around 0.7755-60 after a dull start to the week on Monday.