NAM Update: Ex-IM Nominee Confirmation and China Trade Deal

Victory: Confirmation of Ex-Im Nominees a Major Bipartisan Win for Manufacturers.

Manufacturers secured a victory four years in the making this week when the Senate voted to confirm three nominees to the Export-Import Bank. The Senate confirmed Kimberly Reed to serve as Ex-Im Bank president and Judith DelZoppo Pryor and Spencer Bachus III to serve on the agency’s board. Following the official swearing-in of the new board members, the Ex-Im Bank will again have a quorum and be able to consider major U.S. sales greater than $10 million. This will significantly enhance manufacturers’ competitiveness against other countries, particularly China, that support their domestic manufacturing industries with large and aggressive export credit agencies. While the Ex-Im Bank was sidelined, billions of dollars’ worth of deals were lost to foreign competitors, resulting in tens of thousands of unrealized manufacturing jobs.

The NAM worked aggressively with leaders in both parties to ensure these nominees were confirmed and sent a key-vote letter to all senators urging them to support the nominees. “Now that the Export-Import Bank is on track to be fully functional again, after a four-year hiatus, manufacturers in America can once more reach their full potential and more aggressively compete against China and others,” said NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons in a press release. Timmons warned that the victory will be short-lived, however, if Congress fails to act swiftly to reauthorize the agency before the September 30 deadline. “Now is not the time to squander the historic progress we’ve made in recent years,” said Timmons.

The NAM has been a leading proponent of restoring the Ex-Im Bank, which has supported 2.5 million American jobs since 2000, to full functionality. In January and April, the NAM sent letters to Senate leaders urging them to swiftly approve the full slate of nominees following their bipartisan approval by the Senate Banking Committee. Click here to learn more about how the Ex-Im board vacancies impacted manufacturers and here for more information about its role as a critical tool in checking China’s ambitions.

NAM Urges U.S., China to Reach a Bilateral, Enforceable Trade Deal.

NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons released a statement early this morning on the ongoing U.S.–China talks and the implementation of increased U.S. tariffs on Chinese products: “U.S. and Chinese officials must accelerate their efforts to reach a lasting agreement that ends China’s unfair practices, eliminates tariffs and provides real enforcement. These developments should add a greater sense of urgency to the negotiations. For years, China has refused to play by the rules, harming manufacturers with intellectual property theft and other unfair trade practices. That’s why the NAM was the first business association, in early 2018, to call for a bilateral, enforceable trade agreement to help level the playing field for America’s manufacturing workers. A trade war will not solve our problems. So we look forward to the United States and China returning to the negotiating table to get this deal done as soon as possible.” Today’s U.S. trade action to increase tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports from 10% to 25% follows President Trump’s tweet earlier this week and an additional round of trade negotiations between senior U.S. and Chinese negotiators in Washington, D.C., yesterday to try to reach a deal before the increase in tariffs. The NAM first called for the administration to pursue a bilateral trade agreement with China in a letter from Timmons to President Trump in January 2018. The NAM also testified before the Senate Finance Committee and U.S. Trade Representative on the impact of tariffs and the importance of reaching an enforceable bilateral trade agreement with China. In August 2018, the NAM released a full negotiating objectives framework for an agreement that will address China’s unfair trade practices and level the playing field for manufacturers in the United States.

Article provided by National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).