Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, talks about what he wants from the next administration to ensure the industry continues to grow and maintain its global dominance.
Regardless of who occupies the White House in November, the blueprint for keeping American manufacturing thriving is fairly simple, thanks to the 2017 tax cuts enacted during former President Trump’s term in office.
“He predicted that these tax reforms would be rocket fuel for our industry, and that’s exactly what has happened. Over the last three or four years, we’ve had record investment, record job creation, record wage growth. [of his term]”Jay Timmons, CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), told FOX Business.
“Frankly, there’s a lot of talk right now from both parties about potentially raising taxes on manufacturing and on businesses. That’s not going to help us. You know, it’s not going to help us grow. It’s not going to help our economic growth. And it’s certainly not going to help our leadership,” he said.
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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate, Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), attended the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 15, 2024. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, have said part of the road map is to renew those cuts, which expire in 2025. Timmons said manufacturers, along with the National Association of Manufacturers, which represents 14,000 member companies and 13 million workers, also want a top-down overhaul of regulations that are costly to the industry.
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General Motors assembly plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana (Emily Elconin/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
““Regulation after regulation is being introduced, costing manufacturers about $350 billion in regulatory costs every year. This is hurting their ability to actually invest in new technology, new factories, new equipment and job growth,” he added. “We need to overhaul all the regulations imposed on manufacturers,” he said. Seventy-four percent of manufacturers have fewer than 20 employees, which makes implementing regulations more expensive than larger companies.
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Timmons said the Biden administration has a track record of listening to manufacturers’ concerns but has been slow to act.
A worker uses a brushing machine to refinish reclaimed wood siding at the Hudson Lumber Company sawmill on April 10, 2024 in Pine Plains, New York. (Angus Mordaunt/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
While the NAM maintains that employment is at its highest level since 2008, recent data shows headwinds. ADP’s July national employment report, released Wednesday, reported 4,000 job cuts, while last month’s government labor report for June showed 8,000 job cuts. Manufacturing job gains in the August jobs report, due on Friday, are expected to remain flat, according to estimates. The average annual salary of a manufacturing employee is more than $98,000, according to the NAM.
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Timmons said he and his team plan to lobby the Harris campaign and Trump Vance, and that the industry is open to meeting with all candidates to show them the groundwork and show them what it needs to do to stay rooted and thrive in America, including favorable trade deals.
