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Showing posts from December, 2018

Wall Street Journal Article Features the Impact of Tariffs on PMA Member

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It’s been nearly nine months since the Trump Administration announced tariffs on steel and aluminum, and U.S. manufacturers are still struggling to remain competitive in a global market. In a  Wall Street Journal article titled “Trump Tariffs Pit Auto Companies Against Each Other,” reporters Chester Dawson and Mike Colias spoke with PMA member Clips & Clamps Industries. The article states: This summer, Jeff Aznavorian, president of Clips & Clamps Industries, a small Detroit-area parts maker with about 57 employees, sent one-page letters to about 15 customers proposing a cost-sharing arrangement for future contracts. Clips & Clamps was on pace to turn a profit this year, but rising materials costs have wiped out its margin. Two customers agreed. A few politely declined. One buyer from Canada wrote back, expressing sympathy. “They basically said: ‘I’m sorry your government is doing this to you, but what do you expect me to do about it?’” Mr. Aznavorian said. The exp

New NAFTA Deal Signed but Steel and Aluminum Tariffs Continue

President Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and outgoing Mexican President Pena Nieto signed the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) at the G-20 meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina this morning.  The USMCA is intended to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that has been in force since 1994.  Today’s signing is an important step towards adoption of the USMCA, but much work remains to be done by all three governments before it is fully adopted and implemented. Unfortunately, the USMCA did not resolve the issue of 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. In November, PMA joined a coalition of 34 business groups in urging US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to remove the steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico once the USMCA was signed.  In the letter , the groups stated: "[T]he continuation of these tariffs with respect to Mexico and Canada will create impediments to Congressional passage of the USMCA implementing bill given concerns