Motor Vehicle Parts Supplier Industry Applauds Progress in Trade Talks with China

The Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA), which represents 1,000 companies that manufacture parts and components for motor vehicles in the United States, is pleased to learn that the Trump administration has reached what reports call "a truce," which could reduce the risk of an on-going trade dispute with China. We are encouraged by reports that President Trump has agreed to hold off on new tariffs and that China President Xi Jinping has pledged to increase Chinese purchases of American products. We hope that this will serve as a starting point or additional negotiations, and an agreement in the future that will allow U.S. companies to remain competitive in a global marketplace while protecting intellectual property (IP) rights. MEMA supports bilateral engagement, where China and the U.S. work together to protect the valuable IP of our members. This can include leveraging the powerful relationships the U.S. has with other trading partners to pressure China to enforce their own IP laws and comply with international IP laws and regulations.
 
MEMA repeatedly and consistently expressed to the Trump administration that the tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of imports from China will serve only as a tax increase on the American public and consumers by increasing the costs of a new car or truck and of maintaining the hundreds of millions of vehicles currently on the roads. MEMA also has repeatedly urged the administration to protect intellectual property in more effective and targeted means rather than broadly applied tariffs. The protection of intellectual property is a critical issue for MEMA and its members, and for decades MEMA has advocated for strong global protections of IP investments. However, MEMA asserts that extensive tariffs on a major trade partner will not resolve the issue at hand: intellectual property rights (IPR) protection is critical to the sustained success of the motor vehicle parts manufacturing industry, the largest sector of manufacturing jobs in the United States.