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by Chris Chiappinelli, MA Editorial Staff   | Abstract: | Fed up with trade policies that they see as stacking the deck against them, U.S. manufacturers are looking to the next administration for truly fair trade. |
| Keywords: | truly fair trade, U.S. manufacturers want fair trade |
We're not ready to give up, Mr. President. Some have written us off, saying the U.S. manufacturing base is headed for extinction. We're too costly, too slow. But we're still here. We're still hungry. And, in the words of Mark Twain, reports of our death are greatly exaggerated. All we need from you, Mr. President, is some help evening the odds.
That is one of the dominant messages of a recent Managing Automation/Thomas Publishing Co. poll of more than 2,000 employees of U.S.-based industrial companies. According to the study, which covered a broad swath of manufacturing industries and job functions, 81% of respondents want the U.S. government to help "level the playing field" against foreign competitors in countries such as China, Korea, and India.
U.S. manufacturers see the issue of trade in contrasting lights, according to the hundreds of comments generated by the survey. Many agree in principle with the concept of free trade, but countless others see a deck that is stacked against them, as manufacturers in other countries take advantage of weak business regulations, sizable government subsidies, and cheap labor to export low-cost goods to the United States. Four out of five respondents think the next administration should act to level that proverbial playing field.
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