Member Briefing July 8, 2025
Manufacturing Leaders React To H.R.1: A Boost For Factories, A Blow To Clean Tech
Congress passed H.R.1 (the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act") on Thursday afternoon, drawing positive reaction from key manufacturing industry groups. The bill's preservation pro-manufacturing tax policies is “the result of years of serious, sincere partnership between our nation’s manufacturers and our elected leaders,” said National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) President and CEO Jay Timmons. “Certainty is paramount for all businesses, and this is exactly what One Big Beautiful Bill provides equipment dealers, manufacturers, and our customers," said Associated Equipment Distributors' (AED) President & CEO Brian P. McGuire, citing policies such as 100 percent bonus depreciation, the 199A pass-through deduction, and expensing for research and development costs.
Reaction from the renewable energy industry was more subdued, as the bill phases out federal rebates for electric vehicles as soon as the end of September, as well as clean electricity investment and production tax credits for wind and solar that have been in place for decades. Tom Hunt, CEO of Denver-based Pivot Energy, forecast a rollover effect on manufacturing of the new energy policies. "If it passed as it is, it will hurt jobs. It'll hurt our economy. It'll jack up electricity prices for years to come. It'll endanger a lot of new manufacturing across the country, because all those things are underpinned by the growth of solar and energy storage."
NFIB: Job Openings Remained a Challenge for Main Street in June
NFIB’s June jobs report found that 36% of small business owners reported job openings they could not fill in June, up two points from May. Overall, 58% of small business owners reported hiring or trying to hire in June, up three points from May. Fifty percent (86% of those hiring or trying to hire) of owners reported few or no qualified applicants for the positions they were trying to fill. Twenty-five percent of owners reported few qualified applicants for their open positions and 25% reported none. Key findings included:
- Thirty percent have openings for skilled workers (unchanged) and 13% have openings for unskilled labor (unchanged for the fifth consecutive month).
- Job openings were the highest in the construction, manufacturing, and transportation industries, and the lowest in the finance and agriculture industries.
- A seasonally adjusted net 13% of owners plan to create new jobs in the next three months, up one point from May.
- The percent of small business owners reporting labor quality as their top operating problem remained at 16%, unchanged from May.
- Labor costs reported as the single most important problem for business owners rose one point from May to 10%.
- A net 33% of small business owners reported raising compensation in June, up seven points from May, and the largest monthly increase since January 2020. A net 19% (seasonally adjusted) plan to raise compensation in the next three months, down one point from May.
US Manufacturing Still Has A ‘Perception Problem’
A new survey results from Hexagon released last month show another chief concern for Manufacturing Execs: U.S. manufacturers still have, despite a lot of progress, a “perception problem” to overcome that plant technology is outdated and that U.S. factories are undesirable workplaces, especially for younger Gen-Z workers. Topline findings from Hexagon’s state of Manufacturing 2025 Report that show a healthy majority—72%—of the 500 U.S. manufacturing employees surveyed in May said outdated tech is hurting hiring. Some key findings
- 31% plan to boost their reshoring efforts due to the phased-in and threatened tariffs.
- But 28% believe talent shortages could slow or significantly delay those efforts.
- Only 8% believe they are doing enough to reskill the workforce.
“Outdated technology isn’t just an operational hurdle; it reinforces the perception that manufacturing isn’t a forward-looking, modern career choice. Tools like AI and digital twins can help democratize manufacturing and give more workers a new perspective, but lasting change requires more than innovation. It demands reskilling, breaking old stigmas, and rebranding the industry as one built for America’s future,” said Paul Rogers, president, Americas and Asia Pacific, of Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division.
Global Headlines
Middle East
- Proposal Outlines Large-Scale 'Humanitarian Transit Areas' For Palestinians In Gaza – Reuters
- Red Sea Ship Attack Threatens New War With Houthis - Newsweek
- Syria Fights 'Catastrophic' Wildfires For Fourth Consecutive Day – France 24
- Israel Says It Struck Houthi-Held Ports And Cargo Ship In Yemen - BBC
- Trump and Netanyahu Meet as New Middle East Tests Loom - WSJ
- US Special Envoy 'Satisfied' With Lebanon Reply To US Roadmap To Disarm Hezbollah - Reuters
- Houthis Attack Ship in Red Sea for First Time Since Trump Announced a Truce - WSJ
- Interactive Map- Israel’s Operation In Gaza – Institute For The Study Of War
- Map – Conflicts in the Middle East – Live Universal Awareness Map
Ukraine
- Trump to Resume Sending Weapons to Ukraine - WSJ
- Russian Minister Fired By Putin Shoots Himself Dead, Authorities Say - Politico
- Lavrov Lists Russia Demands for Ukraine Peace - Newsweek
- Ukraine Says Four Dead, Dozens Injured In Fresh Wave Of Russian Strikes – France 24
- How Ukraine Is Revamping Frontline Fortifications To Stem Russian Advances - Politico
- Donald Trump Threatens Russia Tariffs as Relationship With Putin Worsens - Newsweek
- Germany Considering Buying US Air Defense Systems for Ukraine – Defense Post
- Interactive Map: Assessed Control Of Terrain In Ukraine – Institute For The Study Of War
- Map – Tracking Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine – Live Universal Awareness Map
Other Headlines
- Von der Leyen Comes Out Fighting In No-Confidence Debate - Politico
- Brussels Backs Off From Big Farm Shake-Up. Cuts Are Coming Anyway. - Politico
- 'Stories Of Courage And Compassion': Remembering London's 7/7 Bombings – France 24
- Japan's Rice Price Shock Exposes PM Ishiba To Voter Anger As Election Looms – Nikkei Asia
- This Bay Is Key to Russia’s Militarization of the Arctic - WSJ
- Putin’s Radioactive Chokehold On The World – The Economist
- Apple Appeals 500 Million Euro EU Fine Over App Store Policies - CNBC
- The Tour de France Is Already Shaping Up to Be an Absolute Classic - WSJ
- China's Quiet Role in Pakistan's Air War With India - Newsweek
Policy and Politics
Tax Changes Under Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ — In One Chart
President Donald Trump signed his party’s tax and spending package into law on Friday, ushering in major changes to Americans’ finances. The GOP’s marquee “one big beautiful bill” makes Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent while adding a senior “bonus” along with a bigger state and local tax deduction and higher estate and gift tax exemption.
Among other tax provisions, the megabill also includes breaks for tip income, overtime pay and auto loans, as well as the creation of a new tax-advantaged savings account for children. The chart below outlines these key tax changes and how they could impact your wallet.
NAM on Reconciliation Act “The Investment of a Generation in America’s Manufacturers”
Following House final passage of the tax bill, National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons issued the following statement:
“Today marks a historic victory for the 13 million people who make things in America. This is a manufacturers’ bill—through and through… “Manufacturers are especially grateful to President Trump, Vice President Vance, Speaker Johnson, Majority Leader Scalise, Majority Whip Emmer, Conference Chair McClain and Ways and Means Chairman Smith for their steadfast leadership. Their commitment to our industry—and to the men and women who make things in America—was essential to get this done. They listened to manufacturers, stood by us and delivered real results.”
“When leaders partner with manufacturers, good things happen for our country—because manufacturing is nonpartisan and bipartisan. To invest in manufacturing is to invest in America—in communities in every state and of every size. While this bill passed on a party-line vote, manufacturers all across America, in red states and blue states, swing districts and safe districts, look forward to putting people to work, more factories into motion, more innovation into the market, more products onto our shelves and more prosperity into our communities. Taken together, this strengthens the hand of the United States on the world stage. That’s exactly what this bill helps to deliver….”
Hochul's Press Secretary Resigns Following Sexual Harassment Allegations
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's press secretary has resigned, her office confirmed to Spectrum News on Friday, following alleged sexual harassment allegations. Sources told Spectrum News that Avi Small was placed on leave following an incident that occurred on June 16 at an all-staff retreat. It was reported last Wednesday and Small was immediately put on leave, according to sources.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Small was Hochul's press secretary since July 2023. He was previously first deputy press secretary shortly after Hochul became governor in 2021. "Governor Hochul has zero tolerance for misconduct by any New York State employee, and has instituted the strongest workplace protections and training policies in State history. While we cannot comment on an open investigation, as soon as a complaint was brought to the Chamber the employee in question was placed on leave," Anthony Hogrebe, communications director for Gov. Hochul, said in a statement this week.
Read More at NY State of Politics
Political Headlines
- Medicaid Cuts Could Define Midterms – The Hill
- Columbia In Talks With Trump Administration Over Restoring Federal Funding - WSJ
- Temporary Status To Be Removed From Roughly 80,000 Hondurans, Nicaraguans After 25 Years In US - AP
- Texas Flood Forecasts Were Accurate. It Wasn’t Enough To Save Lives. - Politico
- The Mamdani Millionaires Supporting the Socialist for NYC Mayor - WSJ
- Jeffries Plans To Meet With Mamdani Next Week – The Hill
- Trump Calls Musk's Formation Of New Party "Ridiculous" And Criticizes His Own NASA Pick - Reuters
- Labor Official's Firing Stands After DC Circ. Steps In – Law 360
- Doctors’ Groups Sue Kennedy Over Covid Shot Changes For Kids, Pregnant People - Politico
- AAUP, Middle East Studies Association Sue Trump Over Deportations – Trial Begins in Boston – UMASS Media
- Trump Tracker: Keep Tabs On The Latest Announcements And Executive Orders - WSJ
Health and Wellness
Is Your Brain Aging Faster Than You? New Science Offers Clues
A study on brain health, published in 2024 and led by the nonprofit Preventive Medicine Research Institute, found that brain function and cognition significantly improved in patients who made lifestyle changes. As tools and tests that gauge brain health become more accessible, a growing body of research suggests we can actually do something about it. The research comes as the gap widens between lifespan and healthspan—the number of years spent in good health. Americans are living longer on average, leaving more time to develop age-related diseases including dementia. New cases of dementia will double by 2060 to roughly one million annually, according to a recent study.
For study, Dr. Dean Ornish, founder of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute, and a team of researchers randomly assigned 51 participants to one of two groups: a control group with no lifestyle changes, or an intensive program. Patients were tested at baseline and retested after 4½ months. In a test measuring changes in brain function over time, 71% of patients who made lifestyle changes showed improvement or no deterioration in their condition. In the control group, none improved, and 68% got worse. The study’s small sample size makes the findings difficult to generalize, according to Ornish, but the results show a big difference.
Industry News
Tariff Headlines
- Trump To Put 25% Tariffs On Japan And South Korea, New Import Taxes On Five Other Nations. - AP
- Trump Faces Crucial Week for Reaching Trade Deals - WSJ
- Trump Says US Nears Trade Deals As Tariff Deadline Delayed - Reuters
- Stopping Non-Tariff Attacks on U.S. Tech Firms and Industries - ITIF
- Maersk Estimates Effective US Tariffs Average 21% Currently - Reuters
- Pressure From Trump For Trade Deals Before Wednesday Deadline, But Hints Of More Time For Talks - AP
- Trump Threatens Extra 10% Tariffs On BRICS As Leaders Meet In Brazil - Reuters
- How Trump's Tariff Chaos Could Reshape Asia's Businesses - BBC
- De Minimis Exemption Slated To End In 2027 – Supply Chain Dive
- Von der Leyen Has ‘Good’ Call With Trump As EU Pushes For July 9 Trade Deal - Politico
German Industrial Production Rebounds Despite Tariff Pressure
Industrial production in Germany climbed in May helped by its export-led car and pharmaceutical sectors, marking a rebound from the decline seen in April, the first month of Trump’s tariff blitz. Output rose 1.2% on month, German statistics agency Destatis said Monday, flipping some of the 1.6% fall in April. Production had been picking up since the start of the year, with some economists arguing that output in the beleaguered industrial sector had bottomed out. Industry had suffered in recent years from high energy prices after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and increased competition from China.
May’s increase was driven by production growth in the automotive, pharmaceutical and energy industry, where output grew 4.9%, 10.0% and 10.8% respectively, Destatis said. Increased production in the car and pharmaceutical sectors points to robust exports, which have come under pressure from tariffs on European Union goods into the U.S. Industry faces challenges even away from the U.S. trade concerns. German manufacturing new orders–a signal of things to come for the sector–dropped 1.4% in May, while industrial production in neighboring France declined 0.5%.
Nissan considers Foxconn EV output to save Oppama plant from closure, sources say
Japan's Nissan Motor is in talks to allow Taiwan's Foxconn to use one of the automaker's domestic factories to build electric vehicles, said two people familiar with the matter, a deal that could save the plant from closure. Reuters reported in May that Nissan was considering closing its Oppama plant, in the port city of Yokosuka south of Tokyo. CEO Ivan Espinosa has announced sweeping restructuring plans aimed at turning around the struggling automaker, including closing seven of Nissan's 17 factories globally and reducing its workforce by some 15%.
Allowing electronics manufacturer Foxconn to produce its own EVs at Oppama could avert plant closure, mitigating the impact of restructuring on the plant's 3,900 employees and suppliers, the people said, declining to be identified. In May, Nissan's junior partner Mitsubishi Motors (signed a memorandum of understanding with a Foxconn subsidiary for the Taiwanese firm to supply it with an EV model.
JetZero Invests $4.7B To Build Commercial Aircraft Manufacturing Facility In North Carolina
JetZero has announced plans to build its first commercial airplane manufacturing facility in Greensboro, North Carolina. The aviation company, which designs and manufactures the Z4 blended-wing body jet, has invested more than $4.7 billion into the project and will create over 14,560 jobs in Guilford County by 2063. The new facility will be located at Piedmont Triad International Airport and will produce the Z4, a blended-wing body aircraft that combines the wings and fuselage to increase aerodynamic efficiency. The project includes a manufacturing plant as well as a research and development center for composite structures.
JetZero has announced plans to build its first commercial airplane manufacturing facility in Greensboro, North Carolina. The aviation company, which designs and manufactures the Z4 blended-wing body jet, has invested more than $4.7 billion into the project and will create over 14,560 jobs in Guilford County by 2063. The new facility will be located at Piedmont Triad International Airport and will produce the Z4, a blended-wing body aircraft that combines the wings and fuselage to increase aerodynamic efficiency. The project includes a manufacturing plant as well as a research and development center for composite structures.
U.S. Eases Some Chip Software Curbs on China
The U.S. has lifted some curbs on exports of chip-design software to China, according to three companies that say they are working to restore access to recently restricted products. Three of the world’s top chip-design software developers, California-based Synopsys and Cadence Design CDNS -0.84%decrease; red down pointing triangle, and Germany’s Siemens SIE 0.79%increase; green up pointing triangle, said they had been told by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security that recent restrictions on China-bound exports had been lifted.
In exchange for China easing rare-earth curbs, U.S. negotiators agreed to relax some recent restrictions on the sale to China of certain products, The Wall Street Journal reported at the time. “It is a positive step in that both sides appear to be taking action to uphold the agreements made in Switzerland, which improves odds that this cautious tariff ceasefire could hold,” ING economist Lynn Song said.
Electric Boat’s purchase of a Macy's could spark a new trend for reuse of empty mall spaces: Experts
General Dynamics Electric Boat's purchase of the former Macy's department store at Waterford's Crystal Mall last week is being hailed by business and commercial real estate experts as a unique reuse of vacant store space that could have far reaching consequences. The Purchase will allow Electric Boat to convert the 121,000 square foot former anchor store and the more than 7 acres of land that come with it into a support facility for the submarine maker's manufacturing plant, located on the Thames River about 5 miles away in Groton
The plan is to have some 700 employees in its engineering, training and laboratory facilities move into the space in a few years, company officials said in announcing the purchase. The workers will be part of an ongoing effort building Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines and Virginia-class attack subs.
AirAsia Orders 50 Long-Range Airbus Jets in $12 Billion Deal to Extend Global Reach
AirAsia on Saturday announced one of the biggest aircraft purchases in its history. The Malaysian budget carrier signed a deal worth $12.25 billion for 50 Airbus A321XLR jets, with options for 20 more. The planes will start arriving in 2028 and keep coming through 2032. According to Tony Fernandes, CEO of AirAsia parent Capital A, the goal is to create "the world’s first low-cost network carrier," something that works like full-service airlines such as Emirates or Qatar Airways, but at a fraction of the cost.
AirAsia signed its latest Airbus XLR deal in Paris, during the Malaysian Prime Minister’s visit to France. The A321XLR stands for "extra long range." Even as it is a narrow-body jet, meaning it has a single aisle, these new A321XLR jets can fly much farther than regular narrow-body planes. While a regular A321 can fly about 4,000 miles, the XLR can go up to 4,700 miles. That opens up connectivity options from Southeast Asia to parts of Europe or reach deep into Central Asia and the Middle East.
US FDA Approves Regeneron's Blood Cancer Therapy
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals said on Wednesday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved its drug for a type of blood cancer called multiple myeloma that has recurred in patients who had received at least four other therapies earlier. The company said it is "working diligently" to make the therapy, branded Lynozyfic, commercially available as quickly as possible, and has set a wholesale acquisition cost of $470 per 5 mg vial and $18,800 per 200 mg vial.
Lynozyfic is a type of drug called monoclonal antibody that works by targeting two proteins - one found on myeloma cells known as BCMA and another one found on immune T-cells called CD3. These so-called "bispecific antibodies" are "paradigm shifting," Andres Sirulnik, Regeneron's clinical development head for hematology, said. Regeneron is exploring moving such drugs to earlier lines of therapy as they can replace many of the existing treatments used as a standard of care, Sirulnik added.
Robots Coordinate for Aerospace Assembly
Traditionally, aircraft assembly has been a labor-intensive, manual process. Robots have been a rare sight in aerospace manufacturing due to low production volumes and highly specialized parts. That’s beginning to change, however. Robots are slowly becoming a key part of military and commercial aircraft assembly lines as the aerospace industry adopts new materials, grapples with throughput issues, and addresses ergonomic concerns and skilled labor shortages.
Such was the case when an aerospace supplier approached Canadian systems integrator Samuel Automation for help with a difficult assembly process. Based in Waterloo, Ontario, Samuel Automation was asked to design a complex robotic assembly cell for installing nut plates in aerospace components. The nut plates are an irregular part with more than 200 variations. The fasteners are used to hold the external skin of the aircraft to the frame.