After a lull in 2011 during which United States President Barack Obama focused on fire-fighting for domestic economic issues, his administration would appear to have once again trained its gun on the thorny question of outsourcing, particularly a thrust towards preventing jobs migrating to off-shore locations such as India and China.
At a rare ‘Insourcing American Jobs' forum at the White House this week, Mr. Obama resurrected the anti-outsourcing debate when he noted that in the next few weeks ahead he would be putting forward “new tax proposals that reward companies that choose to bring jobs home and invest in America.... We're going to eliminate tax breaks for companies that are moving jobs overseas.”
Although the second year of his tenure saw him make similar remarks that his critics described as protectionist, his visit to countries such as India and South Korea during the following year shifted attention to trade deals inked with these nations. Yet, this week the U.S. President appeared to be gearing up to put all his administration's heft behind the top policy priority of this election year — job creation.
Flanked by senior business leaders from companies such as Ford, Mr. Obama said at the insourcing forum, “What these companies ... have in common is that they... are bringing jobs back to America. You've heard of outsourcing.
“Well, these companies are insourcing. These companies are choosing to invest in the one country with the most productive workers, the best universities, and the most creative and innovative entrepreneurs in the world, and that is the U.S.”
Reiterating his oft-stated goal of boosting American exports, he added that the target he had set of doubling U.S. exports of goods and services by 2014 would be met “a little ahead of schedule,” and that would be on the back of trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama.
He also took a political shot at potential Republican presidential Mitt Romney, who formerly worked for private equity firm Bain Capital, when he said, “I don't want America to be a nation that's primarily known for financial speculation and racking up debt buying stuff from other nations.”
Building a strong economic case for the new emphasis on insourcing, Mr. Obama noted that labour costs were going up in places like China but contrarily the U.S. had become much more productive. “We continue to be the largest market in the world,” Mr. Obama said, adding, “That's the economic case.”
