KENOSHA, Wis. -- President Donald Trump signed an order Tuesday to tighten rules on technology companies that hire highly skilled foreign workers.
Trump toured the headquarters of tool manufacturer Snap-on Inc., and then signed an order aimed at curbing what his administration said are hiring abuses in a visa program.
The "Buy American, Hire American," program targets the H-1B visa program, which the White House said undercuts U.S. workers by bringing in large numbers of foreign workers, driving down wages. He signed the directive at Snap-on Inc. in a state he narrowly carried in November on the strength of support from white, working-class voters. Trump now has a 41 percent approval rating in the state.
Trump carried Wisconsin in November by fewer than 23,000 votes -- less than 1 percentage point -- making him the first Republican to win the state since 1984. He campaigned on the promise of returning manufacturing jobs that have been lost in Upper Midwest states.
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The tech industry has argued that the H-1B program is needed because it encourages foreign students to remain in the U.S. after earning degrees in high-tech specialties. The companies say they can't always find enough American workers with the proper skills.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump wanted to visit "a company that builds American-made tools with American workers."
Snap-on makes hand and power tools, diagnostics software, information and management systems, and shop equipment for use in various industries, including agriculture, the military and aviation. It has eight manufacturing sites in North America and employs about 11,000 people worldwide.
The order signed Tuesday directs U.S. agencies to propose rules to prevent immigration fraud and abuse in the program. They also would be asked to offer changes so that H-1B visas are awarded to the "most-skilled or highest-paid applicants," said administration officials who spoke only on the condition of anonymity.
The officials said the order also seeks to strengthen requirements that American-made products be used in certain federal construction projects, as well as in various federal grant-funded transportation projects. The commerce secretary will review how to tighten existing rules and provide recommendations to the president.
The order specifically asks the secretary to review waivers of these rules in free-trade agreements. The waivers could be renegotiated or revoked if they are not perceived as benefiting the United States.
The trip brings Trump to the congressional district of House Speaker Paul Ryan, but he is out of the country on a congressional trip.
Trump campaigned on populist promises to stand up to China, which he contended was manipulating its currency and stealing American jobs, and to eliminate the Export-Import Bank, which he billed as wasteful subsidy. Trump changed his position on both issues in interviews last week.
As a candidate, Trump often assailed the H-1B visa program, under which the government admits 85,000 immigrants each year.
About 6 percent of the visas currently go to the Labor Department's top skill level, while 8 in 10 workers using the visa are paid less than the median wage for their fields, the White House said in a fact sheet distributed to reporters.
While he has long pledged to support American goods and workers, Trump's own business record is mixed. Many Trump-branded products, such as clothing, are made overseas. His businesses also have hired foreign workers, including at his Palm Beach, Fla., club.
Trump said at one point during the presidential campaign that he supported high-skilled visas, then said he opposed the program. At one debate, he said: "It's very bad for our workers and it's unfair for our workers. And we should end it."
Potential changes could be administrative or legislative and could include higher fees for the visas, changing the wage scale for the program or other initiatives.
Critics say the program has been hijacked by staffing companies that use the visas to recruit foreigners -- often from India -- who will work for less than Americans. The staffing companies then sell their services to corporate clients.
Employers, including Walt Disney World and the University of California, San Francisco, have laid off tech employees and replaced them with H-1B visa holders. U.S. workers are sometimes asked to train their replacements to qualify for severance packages.
Ronil Hira, a professor in public policy at Howard University and a critic of the H-1B program, said Trump's planned order is "better than nothing." But he added, "It's not as aggressive as it needs to be."
Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a research group sponsored by several tech companies, predicted in January that a crackdown on H-1B visas would be counterproductive.
"The effect would end up being exactly the opposite of what Trump wants," he said. "Companies would go offshore, like Microsoft did with Vancouver, Canada," to seek talent.
Information for this article was contributed by Catherine Lucey, Scott Bauer and Paul Wiseman of The Associated Press; by Michael D. Shear of The New York Times; and by Jennifer Epstein of Bloomberg News.
Business on 04/19/2017