A new final rule announced on Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration will end a waiver that allows manufactured products used in federal-aid highway projects not to comply with FHWA’s Buy America requirements.
The new requirements change outdated policies and boosts American manufacturing, officials said. After a review of the Manufactured Products General Waiver, required by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Build America, Buy America Act, the FHWA said its final rule would permanently maximize the use of domestically produced manufactured products by incorporating their use into federal-aid highway and bridge projects.
“As we rebuild America’s infrastructure, we want federal highway projects to use domestically manufactured products that create good-paying jobs and promote private sector investment and small business opportunity,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said. “The final rule we’re announcing today is right in line with the work the Biden-Harris Administration has done over the past four years to boost domestic manufacturing and support livelihoods right here in America.”
Officials said the changes would bolster the country’s manufacturing base and help create good-paying jobs that will support domestic manufacturing sector growth.
“This new rule reverses decades-old policy that effectively allowed the use of taxpayer dollars to purchase foreign products for U.S. transportation purposes,” Acting Federal Highway Deputy Administrator Gloria M. Shepherd. “American businesses now have a unique opportunity to take advantage of the broader federal government market.”
Officials said the rule would be rolled out in two phases For projects obligated on or after Oct. 1, 2025, final assembly of all manufactured projects must occur in the U.S., and for projects obligated on or after Oct. 1, 2026, the cost of components of products that are mined, produced or manufactured in the U.S. must be greater than 55 percent of the total cost of all components of the manufactured product.
Officials said the new rule does not change the Buy America requirements for iron or steel products.