As reported, the U.S. Chamber opposes the inclusion of "Buy American" provisions in the stimulus bill.  The reason is simple: Since 95% of the world’s consumers  live outside the United States, American workers would be the first to suffer as "Buy American" provisions trigger retaliation by other countries (that is, "Buy German," "Buy Chinese," and so on). 

We certainly aren’t against companies and governments "Buying American," but we are against the government arbitrarily mandating such a requirement, because it would harm our economy in numerous ways. We’ve seen this movie before. In 1930, when Congress approved the Smoot-Hawley tariffs, other countries responded by closing their markets. The upshot was a collapse in U.S. trade that turned a sharp recession into the Great Depression. The Chamber is absolutely committed to avoiding a replay of that disaster.

Bruce Josten and Tom Donohue talked about this issue at the release of our State of American Business report: