News & Insights

Washington, D.C. – Today, the National Association of Manufacturers, along with more than 100 manufacturing associations, sent a letter to President Donald Trump laying out a roadmap for regulatory actions across a wide range of agencies that would boost the manufacturing economy and put a stop to the regulatory onslaught that is costing manufacturers $350 billion each year.

Manufacturers have made the case that unbalanced, unworkable regulations severely impact our ability to grow and create jobs. Today’s letter lays out specific steps the new administration can take to reverse the trend of federal agency overreach—providing much-needed regulatory certainty to manufacturers and empowering the industry to continue to make the long-term investments that drive job creation, growth and economic competitiveness here in the United States.

The letter states, in part:

Dear President-elect Trump,

Right now, regulations are strangling our economy. Manufacturers are shouldering enormous regulatory compliance costs—nearly $350 billion annually, or 12% of our entire sector’s contribution to U.S. GDP. For smaller manufacturers with fewer than 50 employees, these costs can exceed $50,000 per employee each year. This means that a small manufacturer with just 20 employees pays $1 million per year to comply with federal regulations—rather than investing those funds in raises or new jobs.

The regulatory onslaught reached a fever pitch during the Biden administration. Prior to the election, the National Association of Manufacturers surveyed the industry and found a significant decline in optimism among manufacturers, with an unfavorable business climate, particularly taxes and regulations, cited as a primary business challenge by more than 60% of respondents.

You have the opportunity to tackle this challenge by addressing burdensome regulations that are stifling investment, making us less competitive in the world, limiting innovation and threatening the very jobs we are all working to create right here in America.

The letter highlights more than three dozen regulatory actions the Trump administration can take to support manufacturing growth, including the following:

• Liquefied Natural Gas Export Ban: On Day One of your administration, lift the pause on LNG exports through an updated national interest assessment.
• Permitting Reform: Appoint an official within your administration to help coordinate policies across the executive branch to ease the permitting burden. Specifically, your administration should start by prioritizing a reconsideration of the “NEPA Phase 2 Rule” and the current implementation of the permitting reform provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
• National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter and Ozone: Reconsider and relax the Biden administration’s NAAQS for PM2.5 rule and maintain both the primary and secondary standard for the NAAQS for ozone rule at 70 parts per billion.
• Power Plant Rules: Replace the Environmental Protection Agency’s rule for existing coal-fired and new natural gas–fired power plants with workable standards.
• Proxy Advisory Firms and the Proxy Process: Rescind Staff Legal Bulletin 14L and end the politicization of the proxy process. Additionally, enforce and preserve the 2020 proxy advisory firm rule while taking steps to build on its reforms with additional policies modeled on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s 2019 proposal.

To view the full letter and list of regulations, click here.

Background:

In 2023, the NAM, along with members of the NAM’s Council of Manufacturing Associations and Conference of State Manufacturers Associations, launched the Manufacturers for Sensible Regulations coalition to address the impact of the regulatory onslaught coming from federal agencies.

An NAM-commissioned analysis on the cost of federal regulations to the U.S. economy shows the following:

• The total cost of federal regulations exceeds $3 trillion each year, an amount equal to 11% of U.S. GDP.
• Federal regulations cost the manufacturing sector about $350 billion per year.
• Small manufacturers with fewer than 50 employees face disproportionate regulatory burdens, incurring costs of more than $50,000 per employee per year to comply with federal regulations.
• Since 2012, there has been a $465 billion increase in aggregate regulatory compliance costs.

-NAM-

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 $2.91 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.