In spite of a strong economy, the business sector is facing uncertainty, according to Kevin Courtois, director of the Great Lakes Regional Office of Public Affairs of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Courtois spoke Friday morning at the Clarion Area Chamber of Business and Industry’s legislative fall breakfast.
“There is the feeling that nothing can get done in Washington,” Courtois said. “The more uncertainty, the less investment.”
“We are seeing these big shifts back and forth,” he said. “Today we have a divided Congress. What happens when Congress is not legislating is that the president uses his phone and his pen to create regulations.”
“President Obama said famously ‘I have a phone and I have a pen’,” Courtois said. “The problem with that is President Trump has a phone and a pen. He is using his pen just as much as President Obama did.”
Courtois noted Trump has rolled back 243 Obama regulations.
“The problem with that is that the next president will also have a pen and a phone,” he said. “So if we keep going back and forth it leads to that uncertainty. If we cannot move legislation we will continue to have shifts from one president to another.”
Courtois said if Congress can’t legislate then the states will legislate.
“The problem with that is that there is no unified or cohesive way of doing things because the states are just as polarized as the Congress,” he said. “There is only one state legislature that is split. All others are either red or blue.
“We no longer have national policies but red state policies and blue state policies,” he said. “What this means for business is that if you are trying to conduct business in more than one state you will have to deal with this framework of different rules and regulations. The results are starting to play out in actual investments.”
Courtois said the nation’s economy has been strong with record low unemployment.
“We have a tight labor market and that is a good thing unless you are a business owner looking for employees. It is basically a one to one ratio right now,” Courtois said.
He said a recent survey found 40 percent of CEOs were concerned about tariffs.
Courtois said the Chamber of Commerce opposes the tariffs but supports trade agreements.
Courtois said the chamber’s top priority is enacting the U.S.-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade agreement.
“This is like NAFTA 2.0,” he said. “We hope to get it passed by the end of this year. In spite of everything else that is going on in Washington there is small group working on this.”
Courtois said another need the chamber is pushing is infrastructure investment. He said that while some states have passed a gasoline tax the federal government hasn’t raised the federal gas tax in more than 20 years.
“The federal government needs to step up,” he said.