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US Chamber, Council of the Americas, NAM Reject Trump Tariffs
Business groups oppose new tariffs against Mexico and Canada.
BY LATINVEX STAFF
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Council of the Americas and the National Association of Manufacturers have all lamented the new 25% tariffs imposed on imports from Mexico and Canada.
“Tariffs will only raise prices and increase the economic pain being felt by everyday Americans across the country,” Neil Bradley, Chief Policy Officer at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement. “We urge reconsideration of this policy and a swift end to these tariffs.”
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest business organization, representing nearly three million companies, 2,800 state and local chambers, 830 business associations and over 100 American Chambers of Commerce abroad.
“The economic implications of tariffs are severe,” Susan Segal, president and CEO of the Council of the Americas, said in a statement.
New tariffs risk setbacks in the fight against inflation and will also make it harder for North America to compete against China, the Council said. The organization’s membership consists of leading international companies representing a broad spectrum of sectors, including banking and finance, consulting services, consumer products, energy and mining, manufacturing, media, technology, and transportation.
“Many manufacturers are operating on thin margins, and the tariffs imposed today will further strain their resources,” National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons said in a statement.
NAM represents 14,000 member companies—from small businesses to global leaders—in every industrial sector. Timmons pointed to two examples of companies that will suffer from the new tariffs on Mexico:
- A large manufacturer in the power-engineering sector that imports more than $100 million every year in components and products from Mexico now faces increasing costs of $25 million due to the tariffs. As a major supplier to the U.S. utility and industrial market, this will directly impact the ability for domestic utilities and industrial customers to maintain a safe, efficient and secure power grid.
- Another large appliance manufacturer indicated the tariffs on Mexico will cost their company $200 million, and the Canadian retaliatory tariffs will add another $31 million—totaling $231 million, or $1.15 million per day.
Mexico and Canada are the two largest individual trading partners with the United States, supporting 13 million American jobs, the US Chamber points out.
Over the past 30 years, a strong and integrated North America has produced shared growth and prosperity for the United States, Canada, and Mexico, points out the Council of the Americas.
“USMCA has fostered strong, important relationships among the United States, Canada, and Mexico since its inception over 30 years ago,” Segal said, referring to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), implemented in 1994, and its successor, the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, implemented in 2020. “It is in the best interest of the United States, Canada, and Mexico, to sit down as neighbors and find a path forward.”
Timmons called for Trump and Congress to implement a comprehensive manufacturing strategy that would create predictability and certainty to invest, plan and hire in America, including implementing “commonsense trade policies that open global markets fairly and effectively. Building things in America only works if we can sell them around the world.”
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