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More than one-third of U.S. manufactured exports are sold just to Canada and Mexico. In fact, the United States is the largest provider of plumbing products exported to both Canada and Mexico.
The U.S. product share of Canada’s import market is 41 percent, and 54 percent for the Mexican market, according to the International Trade Administration’s (ITA) Building Products and Sustainable Construction Top Markets 2016 Report. Furthermore, Canada’s imports of plumbing products from the United States grew at a compound annual growth rate of 3.5 percent during 2009 through 2014.
Plumbing Manufacturers International (PMI) supports updating and modernizing the 23-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to help expand manufacturing in the United States and improve America’s global competitiveness.
To promote this support, as well as thoughts on EPA’s WaterSense program and pro-growth tax and trade policies, PMI member executives traveled to Capitol Hill to advocate for the annual Executive Forum and Fly-In.
PMI members attend the meeting each year to gain insights into economic trends from presenters and to strategize about how to further their interests within the current political environment.
“The Fly-In enables us to learn more about priority issues and brings about ‘ah-ha’ moments through which you gain new insights,” said PMI Board President Pete Jahrling, director, Product Engineering/Intellectual Property, Sloan Valve Company. “I can report these learnings to my management, discuss what they mean to us and plan how to gain the best advantage.”
For U.S. plumbing manufacturers, standards and conformity assessment issues in Mexico (certification, inspection, sampling and testing, and accreditation) serve as the largest non-tariff barriers to trade in the sector. These types of barriers are burdensome for all building product exporters.
“Changes to NAFTA that would raise taxes, tariffs, merchandise processing fees and other cost barriers will undermine the agreement and manufacturing in the United States.”
According to its website, “PMI welcomes work to modernize and improve NAFTA through outcomes that will: eliminate remaining distortions and barriers in Canada and Mexico; raise standards to U.S. levels, including with respect to science-based regulatory practices, transparency, competition, the protection of private property and investment overseas and intellectual property; seek greater collaboration by the United States, Canada and Mexico to take action against trade cheating from third countries; encourage modern and streamlined customs rules and processes to facilitate trade, such as electronic forms; and, maintain and enhance neutral and strong enforcement mechanisms.”
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