 Honoured: James J Malvaso |
The Industrial Truck Association (ITA) is pursuing resolution of trade issues and, during its annual meeting, presented ITA's meritorious service award to James J Malvaso.
"Free or fair trade is something the association has been striving to achieve for several years, and we are working on a bilateral approach - directly with FEM IT in Europe and CITA in China - to address the tariff issues in those respective regions of the world," says James Moran, ITA chairman and a member of the Crown Equipment Corp board of directors. FEM IT is the industrial trucks product group of the European Federation of Materials Handling, and CITA is the industrial truck branch of the China Construction Machinery Association.
"The president of FEM met with the European Commission expressing the industry's position to eliminate the tariffs imposed on lift trucks coming into the EU," Moran says. "The FEM delegation was informed of high-level discussions that are taking place between the United States and the European Union on entering into a formal trade negotiation process."
An interim report of an EU-US working group concluded that any future trade negotiations should investigate five possibilities:
* Elimination or reduction of conventional barriers, such as tariffs and tariff rate quotas, to trade in goods;
* Elimination, reduction or prevention of barriers to trade in goods, services and investment;
* Opportunities for enhancing the compatibility of regulations and standards;
* Elimination, reduction or prevention of unnecessary behind-the-border non-tariff barriers to trade in all categories;
* Enhanced cooperation for the development of rules and principles on global issues of common concern and also for the achievement of shared economic goals relating to third countries.
"To me, this reads like a wish list of the ITA's objectives with Europe," Moran says. "How much of this will be addressed and the length of time is uncertain. However, the interim report suggested that official trade negotiations should not take longer than 18 to 24 months. . . . That sounds like a very aggressive time schedule. . . . However, if these negotiations are, in fact, going to take place, then our opportunity is now to get our message included into the debate."
Regarding China, Moran reports that the CITA management committee supports tariff elimination, has initiated negotiations with the Chinese government and aims to continue with tariff elimination negotiations in 2013.
"Free or fair trade remains a priority for our association," Moran says. "These are not issues that are easily addressed or quickly determined but, if successful, can hold great promise for our industry worldwide."
RecognitionsITA established its meritorious service award in 1992 to recognise the contributions of individuals for hard work, a dedication to duty and a willingness and ability to work with those holding other points of view.
"The individuals that we've honoured in the past, like Tom Bidwell, Steve Finney, Larry Borre, Dan Dunlap, Larry Wuench and, most recently, Stan Simpson in 2010, all shared these traits," Moran notes. "Certainly, this year's recipient does so as well."
James J Malvaso served from 2005-2007 as ITA's top official, for 12 years as a member of the executive committee and, separately, as chairman of the budget and finance committee. "Jim championed the development of new programs that remain the cornerstone of many of our initiatives," Moran says.
Malvaso retired on 1 April as president and chief executive officer of Toyota Material Handling North America.
Separately, ITA presented special awards to Payman Shabbak of Toyota Material Handling USA for his service as ITA statistics committee chairman and Marc Kemper of Cascade Corp for his service as ITA suppliers' committee chairman.
ITA maintains its alliance partnership with the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). ITA worked with nearly 70 OSHA personnel during May 2012 compliance officer training programs in Kansas City, Missouri and Des Moines, Iowa.
Moran reports that ITA currently operates within budget and maintains a healthy reserve fund. "The association is financially sound, and we expect this to continue for years to come," he notes.
From 28 September-October 1, "the ITA annual meeting in Williamsburg was very productive with nearly 200 ITA member participants", says Brian Feehan, ITA president.
Washington, DC-based ITA represents the manufacturers of forklifts and other materials handling equipment and their suppliers who do business in Canada, the US or Mexico. ITA's next membership meeting will take place on 11-13 March 2013 in Washington.