Business groups urge Trump’s Ex-Im Bank nominee to withdraw

New Jersey manufacturers on Monday joined a growing business campaign urging President Trump’s nominee to withdraw from consideration to head the Export-Import Bank.

The New Jersey Business & Industry Association is the latest group to express their opposition to the nomination of Scott Garrett, a former Republican lawmaker from New Jersey who tried to shut down the Ex-Im Bank while he was in office.

{mosads}“We call on Scott Garrett to withdraw his nomination as president and chairman of the Ex-Im Bank,” said the group’s President and CEO Michele Siekerka.

“The Ex-Im Bank supports 243 New Jersey businesses that support 28,834 jobs in our state, so it is important that its leader be someone who believes in its mission to help level the playing field against foreign competitors,” Siekerka said.

The push by national and state business groups began earlier this month when Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), wrote a scathing op-ed in The Wall Street Journal against Garrett’s bid to head the Ex-Im Bank. 

Timmons called for Garrett to withdraw from contention for the job saying his “record of aggressively undermining the Ex-Im Bank is tantamount to a vicious trade war against American manufacturing workers.”

The White House sent Garrett’s nomination to Congress on June 19.

The manufacturers association fired its latest volley against Garrett’s nomination Monday with a digital ad campaign in New Jersey calling for the former lawmaker to withdraw.

Business Roundtable on Friday joined the growing business push against Garrett saying it could not support him or any other nominee “who does not demonstrate strong support for the bank and commitment to get it promptly back to work, fully executing its mission.”

The South Carolina Chamber of Commerce and Illinois Manufacturers’ Association are among other state-level groups opposing Garrett’s nomination.

General Electric and Boeing also oppose Garrett’s bid for the job. 

Business groups have battled with conservative members of Congress over the past two years trying to get the bank back to full strength after a nearly six-month shutdown in 2015.

A lack of a quorum on the bank’s board has further hampered the agency from making deals over $10 million.

The bank guarantees loans for U.S. companies doing business in foreign countries.