Input Stories

Today brought a flurry of trade announcements from the administration, and the NAM was quick to weigh in.

The details: U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced new trade deals with Latin American, Swiss and Asian allies, adding to the deals in place with the U.K. and EU (CNBC).  “[The president] has made the deals […] We have a critical mass, and so the president’s determined now that we have this in place, we have these deals in hand, it is time to take off some of these tariffs on products we don’t make here,” he said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” this morning.

• He added, “I don’t think we want to have super cheap stuff from Asia that undermines our own manufacturing, but at the same time, we haven’t seen a huge increase in some of those kinds of goods. So I think you have to go product- by-product really in these kinds of cases.”
• “This is part of the normal push and pull but also coincides with the president’s commitment in September that he was going to remove tariffs on some of these hard-to-find items or items we can’t grow in the U.S. just due to the climate. I mean, it’s something he’s signaled for the past two months, and now we have a critical mass of agreements with countries [that] make this stuff. So this is good timing.”

The NAM’s response: NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons said the administration secured a “major win” with these trade deals, empowering U.S. food and beverage companies to bring certain critical ingredients and inputs in to expand production in the U.S. But he stressed the importance of securing critical manufacturing inputs and machinery manufacturers depend on into the U.S.

• “Today, President Trump, Secretary Bessent and Ambassador Greer delivered a major win for the American people with trade deals that keep the products that power daily life—like coffee, bananas and cocoa—affordable for working families and manufacturers. That’s something to celebrate. Today’s announcement will empower companies in the food and beverage supply chain to bring certain critical ingredients and inputs to the United States in order to enable and expand production at home,” Timmons said in his statement.
• “Thanks to this administration, manufacturers have made bold investments to enhance our ability to produce the essential inputs on our own shores. But just as coffee primarily must be produced elsewhere, the same is true for a range of critical manufacturing inputs and machinery that keep our factories humming and determine whether the next manufacturing dollar is spent in America. Americans run on coffee—and America’s manufacturers run on indispensable materials, machinery and equipment.”

The NAM’s proposal: “We’ve had productive conversations with the administration about applying this principle, using the  NAM’s U.S. Manufacturing Investment Accelerator Program, to essential manufacturing inputs—such as the critical minerals, industrial machinery and materials that drive our economy and strengthen our long-term ability to make more things in America,” Timmons added.
 
The last word: “The president’s tax, regulatory and energy dominance agendas are designed to stimulate manufacturing investment and job creation here in America,” Timmons concluded. “Empowering manufacturers to bring needed inputs, equipment and machinery to America’s shores would supercharge that investment, ensure the success of the president’s agenda and bring new prosperity and opportunity to communities from coast to coast.”