It's been a storm of a week and I'm not talking about the weather! The meeting room sounded more like a beehive today as everyone was busy helping to put the finishing touches together for tomorrow's conference. From searching and contacting potential speakers to writing thank you cards all of our awesome club members have been working tirelessly for the past month putting together MITA's annual trade conference TradeTalks.
TradeTalks seeks to present fresh viewpoints on cutting edge international trade issues and discuss projections for the future of trade. This year's conference 'Trade In Perspective' will feature talks on US trade policy, regional trade impacts, export compliance, and the regulatory climate. As every year's conference TradeTalks is a bi-coastal event; coordinating with our DC based cohort some of our speakers will be Skype-ing in to the conference. For more information on the conference please check out the Conference tab on our website here!
Please register on our eventbrite page: tradetalks.eventbrite.com
Since this week's meeting wasn't a normal meeting that's all we have for now, however, in other trade-related news....
GM announced this week that it will be closing up to five factories in the US and Canada cutting more than 14,000 jobs over the next two years. The automaker said that consumers weren’t buying enough cars like the Chevy Cruze, and that the overhaul would save the company $6 billion. GM also blamed President Donald Trump, whose tariffs on imported steel have cost the company $1 billion. After three years of impressive growth, new US vehicle sales have started to slide with analysts doubtful that this year’s totals will improve upon 2016’s all-time high of 17.6 million. Sales are also down in China the world’s largest car market and a region of major importance for more than a few automakers.The company recently announced plans to build its new Chevy Blazer in Mexico, a decision that frustrated US labor unions that want those jobs to go to American workers.
Needless to say Trump is not happy with GM's announcement, most likely because it contradicts promises he has made about bringing back manufacturing jobs in the U.S. Trump has responded to GM's decision with a threat to cut subsidies to the company. The "subsidies" Trump tweeted about are the $7,500 federal tax rebate for electric cars, which every automaker gets for producing fully electric vehicles, and are being phased out for GM anyway. After automakers sell 200,000 vehicles, the tax credit is halved for the next two quarters...
How will this play out?
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