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Saving North American Manufacturing
Saving North American Manufacturing View the Town Hall Meeting Video Addressing the Crisis in Manufacturing (Windows MediaPlayer) Beginning in 2003, the Metals Service Center Institute assumed a leading role in a broad public policy campaign among trade associations to support the North American durable goods manufacturing base. The campaign is not protectionist in nature - it does not seek to raise barriers to trade - but cognizant of the loss of factories and jobs to low-cost, offshore manufacturing centers, it seeks a free and fair global trading environment in which all parties fully live up to their treaty and World Trade Organization. The campaign also supports policies that reduce the structural cost of doing business and programs to reward innovation and investments in research and development . An important aspect of the campaign has been a series of Town Hall Meetings on manufacturing, its challenges, and potential solutions. The Metals Service Center Institute actively supports legislation, regulations, and enforcement actions designed to create a level playing field in international trade. This includes a leadership role in coalitions that combat currency manipulation by foreign governments, support for legislation that holds our global trading partners to the same standards of conduct as those practiced by the U.S. and Canada, full enforcement of existing trade agreements so that all parties live up to all of their obligations, and adoption of new trade agreements that provide equal protection for the economies of all trading partners. MSCI opposes policies such as subsidies, tax breaks, tariffs to reduce competition, and other measures that distort markets and create, artificially, points of competitive advantage for our trading partners. Global business studies show that U.S. manufacturing companies bear a large burden of expenses that many of their international counterparts do not face. External overhead costs from taxes, health and pension benefits, tort litigation, regulation and rising energy prices add approximately 22% to U.S. manufacturers' unit labor costs (nearly $5 per hour worked) relative to their major foreign competitors, a study by the National Association of Manufacturers found. The absolute value of the excess cost burden on U.S. manufacturers (nearly $5 per hour) is almost as large as the total raw cost index for China. Taken together, external overhead costs offset a large part of the 54% increase in productivity wrought since 1990. MSCI favors legislation that will bring spiraling costs under control in such areas as:
Raw Cost Position of the United States And Its Nine Largest Trading Partners, 2002 |
