NAM establishes new China Business Committee on currency

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Manufacturing News, Source : TheManufacturer.com
Published : 28 Sep 2006 21:11

In other NAM news, the Board of Directors on September 28, gathering for their annual fall meeting in Washington, D.C., focused on the problem of China’s slow movement toward currency flexibility and directed NAM President John Engler to immediately establish a new task force to work with Treasury Secretary Paulson on the issue. In addition, the task force will initiate an effort to make trade remedies more available to smaller firms.

“We reaffirmed one of the NAM’s key objectives is to press for faster Chinese currency appreciation,” said NAM Chairman John Luke, Jr., President and CEO of MeadWestvaco. “The NAM Board of Directors declined to support the Hunter-Ryan bill (HR 1498), deciding instead to give Secretary Paulson more time to implement the newly-enhanced high-level engagement and dialogue with China’s top leaders that he announced last week to accelerate movement in the yuan.” Paulson addressed the group yesterday.

“Offering a plan with a realistic chance of accelerating China’s currency movement that also provides a remedy for companies on an immediate basis is a real challenge,” Engler said. “But that’s our goal – and manufacturers are nothing if not determined, ingenious and loyal to our own. This task force allows us to work together toward achieving that goal.”

As the trade association leading the charge on China’s currency, Engler said he would immediately begin forming the NAM U.S. – China Business Task Force and would be in frequent consultation with Secretary Paulson. “I have already begun calling top Administration officials to begin exploring ways to make trade remedies a reality for the small firms that cannot afford the expensive legal cases that many are facing,” Engler said.

“The NAM’s strength, like manufacturers, is in finding what’s realistic, and doing it,” said Stephanie Harkness, Chairman and CEO of Pacific Plastics & Engineering Company, a small California high-tech producer, and Chairman of the NAM’s Small and Medium-Sized Manufacturers Committee. “We need to focus on where we have a strong consensus and get manufacturers of all sizes, from across the country, to lobby hard for things that will work.”

“Manufacturers are the backbone of America and we will show that strength through this task force,” Engler said. “Together we will work through the Administration and Congress to alleviate unfair burdens from abroad, such as China’s undervalued currency, and at home, from rising structural costs. Like the vision for success that each of our members was founded upon, the NAM is united in a vision that will allow manufacturing to remain America’s most competitive industry in the world.”

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