IFI Members Visit 40 Congressional Offices During 2025 Washington Fly In

On April 1-2, 2025, 18 IFI members descended on Capitol Hill and conducted approximately 40 meetings with U.S. House and Senate offices and key committees. Meetings were held with the congressional delegations from Alabama, Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The group also met with staff from the House Ways & Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee, which are responsible for trade and tax policy.

IFI attendees made the following key points about the key issues being discussed by Congress, trade and tax reform:

• IFI believes that targeted tariffs on products from Asia can help level the playing field for North American fastener manufacturers. However, we believe that tariffs on our allies, Canada and Mexico, do more harm than good, particularly for the integrated automotive supply chain.

• IFI strongly supports country-wide exemptions for Canada and Mexico for any tariff regime affecting metal products.

• IFI also calls for an exclusion process from tariffs on our members’ raw material when it is not available domestically in the quality and quantity needed.

• IFI strongly supports any efforts to level the playing field with China and other Asian countries. Targeted tariffs against these countries, as well as efforts to strengthen trade enforcement in the areas of fraud, intellectual property violations, duty evasions and transshipment should be the primary focus in the coming months.

• IFI supports Congress moving quickly on tax legislation that does the following:
  • Extends and makes permanent the Section 199a 20% pass-through deduction;
  • Restores and makes permanent 100% expensing for equipment;
  • Makes permanent R&D expensing available in year one;
  • Returns to full EBITDA standard for 163(j) business loan interest deductions;
  • Maintains the 45x production tax credit for domestic production of structural fasteners used in solar trackers, excluding foreign entities of concern; and
  • Repeals the estate tax.

IFI looks forward to continuing to work with Congress and the Administration to support the North American fastener industry.

See why IFI’s Government Affairs program is one of your key membership benefits: