[Asia Economy New York=Special Correspondent Joselgina] "The American supply chain is being made to start in the United States."
President Joe Biden stated this during his State of the Union address at the joint session of Congress on the night of the 7th (local time). He said, "America's roads, America's bridges, and America's highways will be made with American products." The U.S. president delivers the State of the Union address annually according to the Constitution. It is an occasion to inform the public of the broad direction of national governance and to seek cooperation from Congress.
In his speech outlining the direction of governance in the latter half of his term, President Biden emphasized, "My vision is to restore the soul of the nation, rebuild the American middle class which is the backbone of the country, and unify the nation," adding, "We will build the economy not from the top down, but from the bottom up and from the middle out." He self-assessed by saying, "Where is it written that America can never lead global manufacturing again? Now, with everything we have done over the past two years, we are exporting American products and creating American jobs."
He reiterated his campaign pledge, "Buy American." President Biden said, "America used to produce 40% of the world's semiconductor chips, but over decades lost its edge and production dropped to only 10%," reflecting, "We all witnessed what happened when overseas chip factories shut down during the pandemic." He added, "American automakers could not secure enough chips to produce sufficient cars. Prices rose for cars, refrigerators, and cell phones," and stated, "I will not let that happen again."
In this regard, President Biden mentioned the passage of the Chips and Science Act (CSA), emphasizing, "We are making sure that America's supply chain starts in America. Even without this law, we have already created 800,000 manufacturing jobs, but this law will add hundreds of thousands of new jobs nationwide."
Additionally, President Biden referred to the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, saying, "To maintain the world's strongest economy, we also need the world's best infrastructure." He said, "Hundreds of thousands of people will be involved in rebuilding highways, bridges, railroads, tunnels, ports, airports, clean water, and high-speed internet across the U.S.," adding, "This is just the beginning." He also expressed hope that this legislation would help unify the entire country.
President Biden described his economic policy as "investing in forgotten people and places," explaining, "We are building an economy where no one is left behind." He emphasized, "The choices we have made over the past two years are bringing jobs back and restoring pride," calling it "a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America and make real changes in your lives."
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