President Obama urged to 'do more' to support US manufacturing

A US trade group representing domestic manufacturers has called on President Obama to do more to promote the industry and create jobs in the sector.

In a letter to the President the Alliance of American Manufacturing (AAM) praised Obama for initiatives such as the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation and the Interagency Trade Enforcement Centre.

"Taken together, these initiatives could represent forward progress, but we urge you to adopt a more comprehensive vision as American manufacturing continues to face enormous challenges," wrote AAM executive director Scott Paul.

"While America is no longer shedding 40,000 manufacturing jobs each month, as we did for most of the last decade, we are not growing nearly enough in terms of domestic production, employment, and our global share of exports," he said.

Paul recommended a number of actions the Obama administration could take, including:

• Giving US businesses new tools to fight currency manipulation, industrial subsidies, intellectual property theft and barriers to market access in other countries

• Convening a multilateral meeting to address global trade imbalances, and designating China as a currency manipulator if it refuses to participate

• Applying "Buy America" provisions to all federal procurement and federal-aid infrastructure projects, and directing the Defence Department to leverage existing procurement to contractors that pledge to increase domestic content

• Working with congressional leaders to pass long-term infrastructure of at least $500bn (£XX) over six years

• Rebuilding US vocational and technical training programs to address potential shortages of qualified workers in the manufacturing sector.

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