International Trade committee  Actually, we participated in a trade commissioner event in Buffalo a couple of years ago. They called it a matchmaking thing. It was kind of like speed dating. You had half an hour with different people that they matched you up with. In our case, we didn't have exactly the type o

International Trade committee  We're down eight people.

International Trade committee  It's because our customers are struggling, shipping into the States. We're down eight people.

International Trade committee  We started with 60. Now we're at 52.

International Trade committee  Well, it's the tariff issue, because even though we have the remission now, for whatever reason our customers are struggling. They've seriously cut back on their purchases from us, because they're facing issues selling into the American market that they have never faced before. W

International Trade committee  He has raised the patriotism card, I guess, if you want to call it that, and it's hard to fight that one.

International Trade committee  I think you also have to appreciate the impact of supply chains. Even though 30% of our business is in the automotive industry, we are part of a supply chain that feeds into another supply chain that feeds into another one. A trade agreement is a great opportunity to get into a n

International Trade committee  Our international trade is basically under NAFTA. We would love to have trade with Europe, with Asia. The issue is how we get into those markets, and if we get into those markets, how we make sure that our product doesn't rust on the way. That's a huge issue in our industry. Ou

International Trade committee  These components that we make aren't subject to rusting. They need to get to our customers' production line to be installed before they rust.

International Trade committee  We know what our capabilities are, and our business is generated by quotes. We respond to quotes. We ended up getting a quote that we knew we could handle based on our capability, our experience and the accuracy that we operate in. The thing is that each generation of vehicles

International Trade committee  Good afternoon, Mr. Chair. Thank you for allowing Iafrate Machine Works to provide input into this study of federal support for the international trade activities of small and medium-sized firms. I will cover our experience in international trade under the existing NAFTA, the

International Trade committee  Right. I can't speak for them, but you can be sure that, with the amount of money they have invested, they're going to have to seriously think about what they want to do.

International Trade committee  In our case, the remission has solved our problem, but the problem is that, when they ship into the States, some of the product that they make is being hit under the 232 duty. On the Canadian side of their business, they're impacted by foreign product that's not subject at all to

International Trade committee  Without question, yes.

International Trade committee  In our case, our concern is our big customer, because they're facing pressure on the section 232 side as well as the surtax side.