Biden Praises Ukrainian ‘Iron Will’, Refuses To Use Ukrainian Iron in Infrastructure Projects

In his first State of the Union address tonight, President Joe Biden praised the “iron will” of the Ukrainian people. He also promised no Ukrainian iron—one of the country’s primary exports—will end up in all the infrastructure he’s hoping to build.

“I’m announcing that this year we will start fixing over 65,000 miles of highway and 1,500 bridges in disrepair,” said the president to Congress tonight. “When we use taxpayer dollars to rebuild America, we are going to Buy American. Buy American products to support American jobs.”

The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that Biden signed into law in November 2021 expanded requirements that the new roads, bridges, buses, and trains that it would fund would be made in America from American-sourced materials. Those same Buy American provisions ensure we won’t get nearly as much infrastructure for the money as we otherwise could.

That’s because domestically manufactured materials and products often cost more than foreign alternatives. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have to require that project sponsors use them.

Buying American steel for infrastructure projects costs around twice as much as import