Document Type

Article

Disciplines

International Law

Abstract

According to some estimates, each job which the United States government saves through the imposition of quotas on foreign goods costs the rest of society an additional $100,000 in increased consumer prices.' Yet, legislation continues to impede the flow of goods and services across national boundaries.

An example of such legislation is Pennsylvania's Buy American statute requiring that the steel used in state projects be made in the United States." In a decision hailed "not only as a victory for the [nation's steel] industry but as a victory for all American workers,"' the Third Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Pennsylvania statute's constitutionality in the case, Trojan Technologies, Inc. v. Commonwealth of Pa.

Because Congress has not authorized state Buy American laws, this note suggests that the Trojan decision erroneously placed a burden upon the federal government to actively legislate a prohibition on state Buy American laws should these laws run counter to foreign trade policy.5 This error is exacerbated by the difficulties facing consumers who wish to overcome this misplaced burden through the political process. 6 Consequently, there likely will continue - without the benefit of a national debate over its merits - a policy of protecting particular economic interests at the expense of the general welfare.

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