The Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA) released Tuesday a series of recommendations for the Trump Administration to improve the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), emphasizing that withdrawal of NAFTA would put U.S. automotive parts jobs at risk.
MEMA called on the Administration to negotiate a framework that includes research and development, design, and software expenditures in regional value content calculations. Additionally, MEMA called for continued tariff shifts for auto parts, standardized rules of origin for auto parts, and the same treatment of aftermarket parts and remanufactured goods as new goods in a new trade agreement.
“MEMA urges the administration to continue to negotiate with Canada and Mexico with the common goals of sustaining and improving the agreement,” MEMA President and CEO Steve Handschuh said. “Any changes to NAFTA must improve the integrated North American supply base and concurrently preserve and grow U.S. jobs. This, in turn, will strengthen our nation’s ability to manufacture products in the U.S. and export globally.”
MEMA also pointed to a Boston Consulting Group study that found withdrawal from NAFTA could lead to 50,000 fewer U.S. supplier jobs, noting that each supplier job supports five additional jobs.
“A withdrawal from NAFTA would have a serious detrimental impact on our nation’s economy,” Handschuh said. “The economic growth and continued prosperity of our industry and this nation requires the U.S. to stay at the negotiating table.”