ICYMI: NAM’s Timmons Discusses Latest China Tariffs on CNBC
“We Want to See China Play by the Rules”
Click Here to Watch the Interview
Timmons on Additional U.S.–China Tariffs
“The ultimate goal is not tariffs. The ultimate goal is to get China to play by a set of rules, to quit stealing intellectual property, to quit subsidizing their products and to play fairly. And when China talks about restoring the rules of international trade—well, they’re not playing by the rules right now. Our issue, of course, is that tariffs drive up the cost of goods here in the United States, drives up the cost for consumers. So, for manufacturers, we want to see the administration successfully bring China back to the table for negotiations. We’ve been calling for a rules-based, bilateral trade agreement for many months now. And we want to see that done.”
Timmons on China’s Ridiculous Postal Subsidy
“We want to see China play by the rules. I’m sitting here with a Mighty Mug that is manufactured or is a product of a United States manufacturer. The intellectual property is owned here in the United States by the Mighty Mug company. It is cheaper to send that mug from China because of an outdated 150-year-old rule on shipping rates than it is to ship it across the street here in this country. That’s not fair. That is not fair to manufacturers here in the United States. We’ve got to get these rules under control. China has got to come back to the table.”
Timmons on the Skills Gap Crisis in Manufacturing
“We have been on an upswing for the last several years and that has been supercharged over the last 18 months because, again, of tax reform and regulatory reform. I believe if we get these trade issues under control and we’re able to deal with them successfully, the manufacturing sector in this country is going to continue to grow and to thrive. We already predict by the year 2025 that we will have to fill 3.5 million jobs in manufacturing. Some of that, of course, is due to attrition or folks retiring and that 2 million of those will be unfilled because we can’t find the folks that have the right skills necessary to do those jobs. So education and training is going to be an important component of building the manufacturing sector in the future.”
Read Timmons’ full statement on the latest round of U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports here.
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The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) 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 more than 12 million men and women, contributes $2.25 trillion to the U.S. economy annually, has the largest economic impact of any major sector and accounts for more than three-quarters 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 Manufacturers or to follow us on Shopfloor, Twitter and Facebook, please visit www.nam.org.