- MEMA staff met with attorneys for the U.S. Trade Representative to review status of the WTO case against China’s local content regulation on auto parts. Higher tariffs than the agreed upon rate will be assessed to parts fitted to cars that have less than 40 percent Chinese local content. Higher tariffs are also assessed if certain critical parts and systems are not locally sourced.
- MEMA staff continues to lobby for extension of the GSP before the end of the year. GSP is a trade preference program which grants unilateral tariff reductions for imports from 119 developing countries. The supplier industry is a major stakeholder in the GSP program and imported $1.6 billion in parts and components under the program in 2005. The expiration of GSP will mean millions of dollars in increased costs and tariffs to motor vehicle suppliers.
- MEMA continued work on introduction and passage of model anti-counterfeiting legislation, as part of a multi-state legislative push on brand protection. MEMA is working with the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition (IACC) on this project.
- MEMA staff participated in a conference call of the R&D Credit Coalition.
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