ICYMI: NAM’s Jay Timmons Discusses Trade Negotiations, Tax Reform and Manufacturing Investment on Newsmax
Watch Jay Timmons on Newsmax’s “National Report”
Timmons on Tax Reform, Manufacturing Investment
“I’m all for growing manufacturing jobs and investment here. I represent it, right? It’s the National Association of Manufacturers, and I want to do as much of that as possible, but you need several pieces of a strategy to fall into place. When President Trump addressed our board meeting as a candidate last year, he talked about the importance of renewing those 2017 tax reforms that he brought in during his first administration. That was rocket fuel. Those were his words, by the way. He announced that plan at our board meeting in 2017. He’s been to our board a lot. He said it would be rocket fuel. It was rocket fuel. We had record investment and job creation in this country in the manufacturing sector after those reforms took place. Now they’re going to expire this year if Congress does not, frankly, get off their backsides and get busy on this legislation.
“Regulatory reform, the president and his administration have really prioritized rebalancing our regulations in this country. They’re costing manufacturers $350 billion a year. That’s $50,000 per employee per year in compliance costs. We can’t compete with the rest of the world if we are making mistakes on our own and driving up costs.”
Timmons on Trade Negotiations
“[President Trump] is going all in, and he has said that he’s going to negotiate 90 deals in 90 days. And that’s what manufacturers want to see. They want to see some of these deals get done. Right? So, this Italian conversation today, the Italian Prime Minister, that’s good news. It looks like there’s a little bit of progress there. If, on the other hand, just very candidly, if there’s not progress being made, you’re going to start to see manufacturers get really concerned. Should we invest? Should we hire until we see what these deals actually produce? So, when that first deal is announced, I think that’s going to be really good news for manufacturers, and hopefully that will lead to a domino effect where more and more countries are coming to the table, cutting deals with the United States so that we can participate in this global economy that has the potential to be so robust.”
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The National Association of Manufacturers is the largest manufacturing association in the United States, representing small and large manufacturers in every industrial sector and in all 50 states. Manufacturing employs nearly 13 million men and women, contributes $2.93 trillion to the U.S. economy annually and accounts for 53% of private-sector research and development. The NAM is the powerful voice of the manufacturing community and the leading advocate for a policy agenda that helps manufacturers compete in the global economy and create jobs across the United States. For more information about the NAM or to follow us on Twitter and Facebook, please visit www.nam.org.