President Joe Biden plans to sign an executive order while visiting Maine on Friday to encourage companies to manufacture new inventions in the United States.
Biden is going to Maine for the first time of his presidency, packaging his signing of the executive order with a speech at a textile factory and a fundraiser later in the town of Freeport.
The Democrat won three out of the state's four electoral votes in 2020 and is seeking to shore up his support in the state. Maine allocates its electoral votes by congressional district, and he lost the vote in the state's second district, which provided the only electoral vote in New England for then-President Donald Trump, a Republican.
“We’re talking about bringing manufacturing back to the country and creating jobs — good-paying jobs,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday as she previewed the trip.
The White House outlined the executive order being signed by Biden, which would improve the transparency of federal research and development programs to meet the administration's goals for domestic manufacturing. The order asks agencies to weigh U.S. national security and economic interests when determining if domestic manufacturing requirements should be broadened.
The order also encourages federal agencies to consider domestic production when investing in research and development and to use their own legal authorities to encourage that new technologies are made in the U.S. But when goods cannot be made in the U.S., the order instructs the Commerce Department to create a clearer and timelier process for receiving a waiver.
Biden will be going to Auburn Manufacturing Inc., a maker of heat- and fire-resistant fabrics for industries that include shipbuilding, oil refining and electricity generation. The company challenged China for its unfair trade practices regarding amorphous silica fabric, or ASF, which is a heat-resistant material.
