WASHINGTON — Buried in the 258-page economic recovery legislation working its way through Congress is a “Buy American” provision requiring that all that steel for hundreds of billions of dollars in road, bridge and school construction be produced in the United States.

 

The wording was inserted at the behest of Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Belleville, who said afterward that it “will energize our manufacturing sector and maintain and create jobs in the steel industry.” It would not apply if domestic steel made more than a 25 percent difference in a project’s cost.

 

Costello is looking out for Granite City Steel, which was closed in December for an indefinite period.

 

While the Buy American provision doesn’t mention the source of steel, China is the target. Almost overnight, China went from a net importer of steel to the world’s biggest exporter thanks to Chinese government subsidies, low labor costs and currency manipulation that keeps its price appealing.

 

While the U.S. industry has recovered its stability since the bankruptcies of the 1980s, it is hurting once again in the recession.

 

Little has been done in recent years to stem the flow of Chinese imports of anything and the matter has grown even trickier given America’s reliance on China to help lift us out of our financial mess.

 

But the congressional provision — if it stays in the bill — offers a change. And perhaps so will the Obama administration, judging by comments yesterday on Capitol Hill from Timothy Geithner, the nominee for treasury secretary.

 

Geithner declared in a written statement that China was guilty of manipulating its currency for trade advantage — a surprising assertion given that the U.S. Treasury has declined to formally cite China for currency manipulation. Such a step would require that the White House open negotiations with China over currency policy.

 

Coincidentally, the subject of China trade will be on the table in St. Louis on Monday when Sens. Christopher “Kit” Bond and Claire McCaskill, accompanied by China ambassador Zhou Wenzhong, announce a plan to set up a commission that aims to make St. Louis an air freight hub for Chinese goods.