June 17, 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: media@americanautocouncil.org

June 17, 2019

 

 

AAPC Urges Senate Finance and House Ways & Means Leadership to Pass USMCA

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Governor Matt Blunt, president of the American Automotive Policy Council, today urged the chairs and ranking members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance and the U.S. House Committee on Ways & Means to renew their efforts to resolve any remaining issues and pass the United States-Mexico-Canada agreement (USMCA). 

In a letter to Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), House Ways & Means Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) and House Ways & Means Ranking Member Kevin Brady (R-TX), Governor Blunt said America’s automakers – FCA US, Ford Motor Company and General Motors Company– support swift passage of the USMCA.

“AAPC and its member companies have given their full support to USMCA because it will not only help the U.S. auto industry remain globally competitive, but it will also encourage automakers – foreign and domestic – to invest and expand here in the United States,” wrote Blunt.

In the letter, Governor Blunt noted that the President’s decision last month to lift the tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Mexico and Canada was crucial for U.S. automakers.  He also said the announcement by Speaker Pelosi on the formation of the USMCA working group was a welcome sign. 

“We respectfully request that you renew your efforts to help resolve any remaining issues, so that Congress can approve the USMCA and make it possible for the trade pact to fulfill its full potential for U.S. automakers and our nation’s economy as a whole,” Governor Blunt wrote.

The letter pointed out that AAPC member companies have already announced $6 billion in new U.S. investments, which were driven in part by the new USMCA rule of origin requirements.  The agreement also contains strong language ensuring the acceptance of vehicles built to U.S. standards by our trading partners, as well as groundbreaking provisions to address currency manipulation, both of which are vital to U.S. automakers’ ability to compete on a level playing field. 

“As your colleagues begin working together to find solutions to the issues that remain, we hope they will consider the benefits that passage of a modernized North American trade pact will bring to our industry, the jobs we support here in the United States, and America’s economy generally,” wrote Governor Blunt.

The full letter is available here.

The American Automotive Policy Council (AAPC) is a Washington, D.C. association that represents the common public policy interests of its member companies FCA US LLC, Ford Motor Company and General Motors Company. 

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