Manufacturers press for passage of tariff suspension bill

Manufacturers are urging Congress to pass a bill that they argue would lower their production costs and help them ramp up hiring. 

The push is on for lawmakers to take up a miscellaneous tariff bill (MTB), which they argue would support thousands of domestic manufacturing jobs.

{mosads}The last MTB enacted in 2010 supported an estimated 90,000 jobs, increased U.S. production by $4.6 billion and expanded growth by $3.5 billion, according to the National Association of Manufacturers.

When the last bill expired 400 days ago on Dec. 31, 2012 more than 600 duty suspensions ended.

“For three decades, Congress has supported manufacturing in America by suspending import taxes on necessary manufacturing inputs and raw materials that are not available in the United States and must be imported from other countries,” Jessica Lemos, director of international trade policy for NAM wrote in a blog post.

A bipartisan bill was introduced last summer by the House Ways and Means Committee but hasn’t managed to gain any momentum.

“Failure to pass a new MTB will result in a staggering $748 million tax hike on manufacturing over the next three years,” Lemos said.

“This translates into a whopping $1.857 billion in economic losses.”