Robert Atkinson, president of the US Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, has said that President Obama’s recent State of the Union address contained “some welcome news, such as the announcement of six new manufacturing innovation institutes and the reversal of cuts to federal research and development”. However, he said that “more must be done to enhance technological development and promote automation and productivity.”

Meanwhile, Scott Paul — president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing — said that, despite “a strong rhetorical focus on manufacturing,” the president painted an overly “rosy picture” in his address and that “any recovery in the manufacturing sector has been painfully slow”. He called for the Obama Administration to “tighten Buy America compliance among federal agencies — to prevent tax dollars from leaking overseas — and to launch an executive effort to halve the US trade deficit with China.

“One thing we know at the AAM is that the American people are ready for bold action by Congress and the Administration to do more to support American jobs — and manufacturing in particular.”