By Justin Ganderson, Frederic Levy, Sanderson Hoe and Scott Freling, Covington & Burling LLP ( April 19, 2017, 8:25 PM EDT) -- President Donald Trump took a significant step this week toward implementing his often touted objective of protecting U.S. manufacturers and workers by signing the "Presidential Executive Order on Buy American and Hire American" on April 18, 2017. In addition to addressing reforms to the H1-B visa program to protect U.S. workers, the EO sets forth a policy and action plan intended to "support the American manufacturing and defense industrial bases" by "maximiz[ing]" the federal government's procurement of "goods, products, and materials produced in the United States," and mandates strict compliance with the statutory and regulatory regimes for domestic sourcing preferences and restrictions (jointly referred to as "Buy American laws"), such as the Buy American Act (41 U.S.C. §§ 8301–8305) and other buy America legislation, and implementing regulations....