WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joe Biden has already signed an executive order to make more products in America, but Ohio steelworker Donnie Blatt told a U.S. Senate committee on Tuesday that the country is headed in the wrong direction.

“If we don’t take action to bolster manufacturing in the U.S., that just means more jobs are going to be in China and not in Ohio or in Oregon or other parts of the country,” Blatt testified.

Blatt called for Congress to help incentivize manufacturers to create or keep jobs in the U.S, whether that’s by changing tax policy or expanding unions.

About 700,000 Ohioans worked in manufacturing in 2019, according to the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association, making it the largest sector of Ohio’s economy.

Nearly 17% of all goods produced in the Buckeye State come from manufacturing.

Blatt was one of the several voices Tuesday to tell senators that Ohio, and the United States, are falling behind in steel, computer chips, car-making, and more.

“Only 12% of global semiconductor manufacturing is in the U.S. and just 9% is from American companies,” George David, the chief financial officer of Intel Corporation, testified.

Jonathan Jennings, a vice president with Ford Motor Company with Ohio roots, echoed David.

“The future is electric and the future must include America,” Jennings said.

Both of Ohio’s U.S. senators took part in the Senate Finance Committee hearing.

Republican Sen. Rob Portman talked about the need to bring manufacturers, suppliers, inventors, and skilled workers together to better coordinate.

“As a Republican, I’m always hesitant to talk about the government being too involved in our market, which has ultimately been very successful…I think we’ve got to realize that those kinds of industrial commons of all those folks together really does matter,” Portman said.

Republicans and Democrats disagree on how the tax code should be structured to grow manufacturing in the U.S., but Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown told Spectrum News in an interview Tuesday that there is bipartisan work being done to buy more American-made products.

“I’m hopeful that Sen. Portman and I and others can close those loopholes, especially when government is spending a lot of money like it is now on protective equipment and other things to fight this virus, that those dollars are going to American companies,” Brown said.

During the hearing, Brown asked Jennings with Ford about the news that Ford is reportedly walking back a $900 million commitment at the Avon Lake plant in Ohio and is instead moving production to Mexico.

Jennings said Ford is continuing to invest in the Avon Lake plant, but Brown urged the company to reverse its decision.