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PMA on Capitol Hill: Members and Lobbyists Meet with New Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing

January 1, 2008

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PMA members Jim McGregor of Morgal Machine Tool Co., Ralph Hardt of Feintool Cincinnati and Jim Zawacki of GR Spring & Stamping joined PMA President Bill Gaskin and PMA lobbyists John Guzik and Omar Nashashibi for a meeting with the new Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing and Services, William (Woody) Sutton in Washington, D.C. This was PMA’s first meeting with the new assistant secretary.

The group demonstrated the unintended consequences of tariffs on raw materials by presenting parts that were once manufactured by PMA members, but now are manufactured overseas and imported to the United States. Of particular interest were parts that are manufactured and shipped for less than the domestic raw material costs. They also discussed the need for a method of tracking imported metal parts, much like the government tracks steel imports month-to-month.

As of now, automotive stampings are tracked, but other stampings and sheet metal fabrications are not, which makes it difficult to gauge the impact of imports on the domestic market and the potential erosion of U.S. manufacturing sectors.

PMA will continue to work with the Assistant Secretary’s office and other trade associations to find a solution to the lack of import data for metal parts.

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