According to White House advisor Claver-Carone, Donald Trump’s government is preparing an initiative that will use financial incentives to encourage U.S. companies that have their production facilities in Asia to move to the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean.
“The project could generate investments from $30 billion to $50 billion in American countries”, as Mauricio Claver-Carone told Reuters in an interview. In addition, he added that infrastructure, energy and transport could be the first potential areas of focus.
The adviser did not provide details on the scope of the incentives, but highlighted the use of a $765 million loan to encourage Eastman Kodak Co. to develop pharmaceuticals in the United States, to help combat the coronavirus pandemic.
“We are essentially creating a “Return to the Americas” initiative,” said Claver-Carone. That would include bringing some outsourced facilities from China back to the United States, as well as install others in Latin America and the Caribbean in an attempt at commercial rapprochement, Claver-Carone said.
In the same interview, the White House adviser said the administration had already been working with Latin American and Caribbean countries to help them attract U.S. investors, but the pandemic helped convince U.S. companies that now was time to join. He said the outbreak had clearly demonstrated the advantages of having suppliers installed closer to the United States than in Asia.
The initiative would not focus on having cheap labor, but would be based on provisions to protect workers included in the trade agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada that took effect in July.
Donald Trump has made Buy American’s policies a centerpiece of his administration since he took office in 2017, and those efforts have been accelerated by the pandemic.