NAM’s Timmons: Here’s the Solution to Make China ‘Play By The Rules’
By: NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons
May 31, 2018
“President Donald Trump has done more for manufacturing workers than any president in recent history, and now he has the chance to cement his legacy—by seeking, negotiating and securing a history-making trade agreement with China. With U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross headed to China in the coming days, the administration has the chance to lay the foundation to advance this goal …
“China and its favored Chinese industries are also the cause of some of manufacturers’ biggest challenges. They steal manufacturers’ valuable ideas and intellectual property. They undercut us in the global marketplace and don’t play by the same rules. They profit from these actions at our expense …
“A U.S.–China trade agreement must achieve three key goals to be successful: eliminate tariffs and discriminatory practices that prevent American companies from selling more manufactured goods to China; end Chinese policies that distort the free market and give their companies an unfair advantage; and create clear and binding enforcement tools to ensure the United States can hold China fully accountable.
“This agreement must also go further than the existing World Trade Organization agreements, which, as the president has noted, allow Chinese tariffs to be more than three times higher than U.S. tariffs. It must require stricter rules against unfair subsidies. It must include best-in-class provisions to end China’s favoritism toward domestic industries and to protect intellectual property. Companies should not be forced to hand over data and technology just to do business in China …
“President Trump can do what no American president has been able to do and what a piecemeal tariff approach cannot achieve: make China play by the rules and stop cheating once and for all, while empowering manufacturers in the United States to compete in China like never before.”
Click here to read Timmons’ letter to President Donald Trump urging the administration to pursue a bilateral trade agreement with China. Click here to watch Timmons’ appearance this morning on CNBC’s Squawk Box.
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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.
NAM Statement on Section 232 Investigation into Auto Imports
Timmons: “Incorrectly Using the 232 Statute Will Create Unintended Consequences for U.S. Manufacturing Workers That Will Limit the Chance for American
Washington, D.C. – National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) President and CEO Jay Timmons released the following statement on the Department of Commerce’s announcement that it is initiating a Section 232 investigation into auto imports:
Manufacturers in the United States want to give every advantage to American workers. But incorrectly using the 232 statute will create unintended consequences for U.S. manufacturing workers that will limit the chance for Americans to win, just as we do when government gets out of the way and allows us to lead. Thanks to tax and regulatory reform, manufacturers’ outlook is at record levels—with 93 percent expressing confidence about the state of the economy. Manufacturing is growing and thriving for the better, creating millions of well-paying jobs for Americans across the country. We cannot endanger this progress by restricting trade and promoting retaliation against American-made products that will undermine manufacturing and jeopardize the jobs of manufacturing workers in the United States.
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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.
NAM’s Chuck Wetherington Testifies on the State of Trade for U.S. Small Businesses
Wetherington Calls for Enforceable Trade Agreements, Restoring Ex-Im Bank at House Small Business Committee Hearing
Washington, D.C. – BTE Technologies President, National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) Executive Committee member and Small and Medium Manufacturers (SMM) Group Vice Chair Chuck Wetherington testified on behalf of the NAM at today’s House Small Business Committee hearing on the state of trade for the United States. Wetherington’s testimony called for negotiating and implementing market-opening, high-standard and enforceable trade agreements, restoring the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank to full functionality and improving U.S. market and export promotion assistance.
Any outcomes from the ongoing NAFTA modernization negotiations must sustain and grow higher-paying American jobs and fuel U.S. manufacturing production, exports and competitiveness, Wetherington said in his written testimony. To be successful, a renegotiated NAFTA must also be fully consistent with the substantive Trade Promotion Authority trade-negotiating objectives contained in the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015. At the same time, it is vital to ensure that any renegotiation does not set back U.S. manufacturing or manufacturing jobs. Changes to NAFTA that would increase red tape and complexity, substitute government decision-making for the free market or raise taxes, tariffs, merchandise processing fees and other cost barriers—including with respect to rules of origin or concerning restricted access to foreign procurement markets—will undermine, rather than incentivize, manufacturing in the United States and North America more broadly.
Click here to read Wetherington’s full written testimony.
Wetherington’s testimony at the Small Business Committee comes the same day as NAM Chief Economist Chad Moutray testifies at a Joint Economic Committee hearing on unleashing America’s economic potential and NAM Vice President of International Economic Affairs Linda Dempsey testifies at a Senate Finance Trade subcommittee hearing on market access challenges in China.
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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 Twitter and Facebook, please visit www.nam.org.