Buying Dumb Is Not Patriotic : L.A. City Council’s “Buy American” ballot measure doesn’t help

On Wednesday the Los Angeles City Council debated and passed a City Charter ballot amendment in the “Buy American” spirit. But however emotionally satiating, the measure--which would require preference for U.S. firms competing for city contracts--is a mistake. It is bad medicine that wise voters will want to reject when it appears on the ballot in June.

In proper measure, encouragement to “Buy American” is to be cherished. It calls attention to the large imbalance of trade with countries like Japan, and puts the spotlight on the need to nurture and develop American industries--and the need to support U.S. workers. But Buying American is one thing; Buying Dumb is something else. When it is blown out of proportion, the “Buy American” movement is dangerous. It could induce a city to pay excessively for inferior goods and services. It is the municipal equivalent of national trade protectionism. And it runs counter to the spirit and intention of existing and under-negotiation trade accords with other nations.

The City Council measure attempts to get a public-policy handle on the “Buy American” movement, but that is just too hard to do. The effort creates more problems than it solves. Decision makers need to look at a whole range of issues before deciding how to spend the public’s money, not just at the domestic content of a product or service. Should Los Angeles tilt toward U.S. firms--or, even better, local firms--whenever possible? Absolutely. But should it so tilt if the U.S. product is unproven, uncompetitive or just plain lousy?

We all need to keep in mind that over the years the American economy has benefited mightily from foreign sales of its products. Exports are now one of the few booming areas of the U.S. economy. That must be kept in perspective by local legislators who--however well-meaning, and in some cases, however thoroughly grandstanding--seek to respond to public anxieties by offering unworkable or counterproductive “cures.”

Americans must work to tear down barriers to their exports, whether in Japan or elsewhere. They should not in the process erect barriers of their own that in the long run would be self-defeating.