Time for Trump to legislate, says AEM

At its ConExpo press conference, the chair of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), Michael Haberman, called on the Trump administration to make “common sense reforms on tax and legislation, to help US manufacturers remain competitive”.

He also urged the government to make passing a major bill on infrastructure a priority.

His speech preceded the release of a new report, The Market Size and Economic Contributions of the Off-Highway Equipment Industry, compiled for the association by economic research analyst IHS Economics.

The headline figures from the research were presented by the firm’s MD, Scott Hazelton, who reported that 1.3 million jobs in the US could be directly attributed to equipment manufacture.

For 2016, IHS estimates there was US$31.3 trillion in total sales activity in the US, across the construction, agriculture, mining and forestry sectors.

Of that total, the firm estimates that over US$416 billion in sales was supported by economic activity attributable to off-highway and ancillary products.

“North American off highway equipment industry is a significant  component of the nation’s manufacturing base,” said Hazelton, who reported that, “For every US$1 million in direct industry sales, 2.7 jobs are supported within the industry’s supply chain in the United States”.