Brian Feehan

The Industrial Truck Association (ITA) has come out in support of the North American Free Trade Agreement, citing NAFTA's success in creating American jobs and contributing to the growth of the US economy.

The powered industrial truck industry annually exports over USD900 million of equipment to Canada and Mexico duty free under NAFTA. This equates to an annual trade surplus of over USD400 million.

"NAFTA provides the opportunity for US manufacturers to sell American-made forklifts shipped to Canada and Mexico duty free. Without NAFTA, these products would face substantial tariffs, putting them at a competitive disadvantage with manufacturers from other countries that enjoy duty-free status," says Brian Feehan, president of the ITA. "The USD900 million of products shipped to Canada and Mexico are built right here - in places like Texas, Ohio, North Carolina, Kentucky, Indiana and many more US cities."

Forklift sales in the North America market continue their unprecedented increase. 2017 marked the third consecutive year of growth, with over a quarter million units sold in 2017, representing a 9.5% increase from 2016 and a 12.2% increase over 2015. The industry supports 209,000 US jobs.

"The US economy is growing, tax reform is providing confidence for businesses investments and unemployment is low. NAFTA remains an important component to maintaining this momentum," says Feehan.

ITA says it supports modernising and improving NAFTA through the elimination of the remaining market distortions and barriers in Canada and Mexico; raising standards to US levels with respect to science-based regulatory practices, transparency, competition, the protection of private property and intellectual property; updating the agreement to include new digital trade provisions important to small manufacturers and those creating and relying on new technologies; and removing unnecessary red tape at the border and duplicative regulations that are holding manufacturers back.

"NAFTA can and should continue to help grow high-paying American jobs, expand the nation's manufacturing and improve its global competitiveness," says Feehan.