The Future of Manufacturing and the Trump Administration

Manufacturers have been waiting for a builder and leader like President-elect Trump to upend business as usual in Washington, so that we can grow, create more good-paying U.S. jobs and lift up everyone in America. That’s why I appreciated the chance to recently talk to Carl Quintanilla on CNBC’s Squawk Box. Here are the top three takeaways from the questions I was asked about the future of manufacturing and the new Trump Administration.

1.      If there are changes in the tax code that benefit business, what will workers feel? If you create an environment where it’s less costly to do business in this country, because of better federal and state laws and regulations that means more money is going to go in investments right here in the United States. It’s going to go into growing jobs in America. It’s going to go into increasing salaries and benefits here—and that’s good news.

2.      If comprehensive tax reform goes forward under President-elect Trump, are there provisions that you consider a priority? If we get the corporate tax rate down to 15%, that’s going to send a huge signal that America is open for business again. But we can’t forget that 2/3s of manufacturers pay taxes at the individual tax rate as pass-through entities or S-Corps. This isn’t just about corporate tax rates—this is about comprehensive tax reform across the board so that we leave no business behind.

3.      Will ‘buy American’ be an important thing to watch, or if the orders are going to be so monumental will there be no way we can make things on our own? The goal is we want to make as much stuff as we possibly can in this country at the hands of American workers. We’re going to have to see how it goes and see how legislation shapes up. We want to create an environment through lower taxes and better regulations that’s gong to encourage more investment, more better-paying jobs right here in this country to create more American goods.

Watch the full interview here.