According to the White House, the order specifies greater preferences for American-made materials in projects that receive federal financial assistance in the form of loans, loan guarantees, grants, cooperative agreements, insurance and interest subsidies. 

Writing in an op-ed for Fox News, trade adviser Peter Navarro said that each year, the federal government provides more than US$700 billion in financial assistance to more than 40,000 organizations. 

The order, he said, directs federal agencies to “encourage recipients of new federal financial assistance awards to use, to the greatest extent practicable, iron and aluminum as well as, steel, cement, and other manufactured products produced in the United States in every contract, subcontract, purchase order, or sub‑award.” 

Navarro said the types of infrastructure potentially covered run the gamut from bridges, water infrastructure, and sewer systems to broadband Internet and cybersecurity.

“By extending Buy American principles to more federal financial assistance programs, this new executive order further reinforces the Trump administration’s Buy American preferences,” Navarro wrote. 

Thomas J. Gibson, president and chief executive of the American Iron and Steel Institute, applauded the executive order, saying it is an additional measure that will help to ensure the steel industry remains competitive.

“Strong domestic procurement preferences for federally funded infrastructure projects are vital to the health of the domestic steel industry, and have helped create manufacturing jobs and build American infrastructure,” he said.