Why Cat opposes "Buy American"

Caterpillar is a proud American company. We were born in California, made our home in Illinois and maintained a strong U.S. manufacturing base that serves the global marketplace. In our own backyard, the Aurora facility has been home to thousands of employees for 50 years. We are also proud of our global footprint that allows us to compete and support Cat equipment throughout the world. Today more than half of what we produce in the U.S. is exported. We are also a company that will benefit from the infrastructure component of the proposed $825 billion stimulus package. But there is one element of the stimulus proposal that greatly concerns us - it's the "Buy American" provisions. Our reasons go beyond our confidence that we can compete and win business because of the value of the products we produce. Today, countries from Asia to Europe are pursuing similar infrastructure packages to stimulate their economies. In some cases, like China, these proposed projects are more ambitious than those in the U.S. And that's the rub. Caterpillar would like to sell U.S.-made products to infrastructure projects at home and abroad. But if the U.S. sends the message that regardless of value, countries should buy only locally produced products, Cat's exports, as well as the U.S. jobs they support, will be hurt. In some of our Illinois factories, as much as 70 percent of what we make is sold overseas. That's not surprising given that 95 percent of the world's consumers live outside our borders, and most infrastructure growth is occurring in the developing world. At our Aurora facility, 40 percent of medium wheel loaders, 59 percent of large wheel loaders and 16 percent of hydraulic excavators are exported. Exporting our product is an influential component of job security for our employees. It's hard to be against something that sounds so patriotic as "Buying American." But turning inward and embracing protectionism is what turned a bad recession in the 1930s into the Great Depression. Let's show some political courage and learn lessons from the past. Our country doesn't need to isolate itself from the international economy.

Jim Blass

General Manager

Caterpillar Inc.

Aurora campus