WASHINGTON — The Business Roundtable, a trade group of top US chief executives, announced Wednesday its members backed the revised US-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade deal after negotiators brought the hard-won agreement across the finishing line.

Top officials of the three countries signed the overhaul of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which labor unions, industry groups, lawmakers and even environmental groups fought hard to improve, on Tuesday.

“Business Roundtable urges swift passage of USMCA implementing legislation because the agreement in its totality preserves and strengthens North American trade and investment,” said Joshua Bolten, the group’s president and CEO.

“We will work with Congress and the administration to get this done.”

Ahead of fresh US tariffs on Chinese imports that are due to kick in at the end of the week, group chairman Jamie Dimon, chief executive at JPMorgan, said he expected phase-one talks of a trade deal between Washington and Beijing to be finalized, adding that not doing so would be “negative” for markets.

During the group’s quarterly meeting in Washington, Dimon added that recent interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve help the economy “a little bit” but “not as much as people expect.”

His comments came as the group’s quarterly survey found CEO sentiment dropped for the seventh quarter in a row, as executives said ongoing trade uncertainty and the global economic slowdown were tempering their plans.

Speaking with reporters, Dimon again pushed the central bank to reconsider its liquidity rules for banks after rates spiked in overnight funding markets this fall. He warned the issues seen in the “repo” market could spill over into other financial markets in a weaker economy.

“They should look at recalibrating all the rules and regulations that do affect the liquidity in the market. This is a minor one, the repo market. But it would affect other markets, and it could, that wouldn’t be so minor,” he said.

The Fed has so far resisted industry calls to reconsider its rules, with top officials saying the rate spikes were primarily due to technical factors.

However, Fed Vice Chairman Randal Quarles is reviewing how its supervisors monitor banks, and whether their interactions may have pushed banks to steer clear of the overnight markets, which underpin much of the US financial system, by helping banks meet daily liquidity needs.

Dimon said the Fed’s current policy of providing temporary support to the market is insufficient.

“I don’t think they’ve fixed it so much as put a Band-Aid on it every day,” he said. “But they’re aware of it.” — Reuters

TOYOTA Motor Corp. on Wednesday said its North America chief executive, Jim Lentz, would retire on April 1, and tasked the unit’s chief operating officer, Tetsuo “Ted” Ogawa, with navigating an industry shift to electrification and automation.

Ogawa has worked for Japan’s biggest automaker and the United States’ third-largest vehicle seller in a number of posts since 1984. He was appointed to his current role at Toyota Motor North America in November 2018.

In a statement, he said Lentz “was instrumental in the restructuring and bringing our North American region together.”

Lentz, a 38-year-veteran of Toyota, said his long tenure including almost seven years at the helm was in part a function of the automaker’s culture.

“We have a long-term view of things and try to keep our eyes on the horizon and not get sea sick with all the dips and twists and turns,” Lentz, 64, said in an interview. “The new normal in the world is a little more chaotic and so we have to do a better job of scenario planning.”

While the industry is facing a dramatically different future with the rise of electric, connected and autonomous vehicles as well as mobility as a service, Lentz said he saw the change as more evolutionary and revolutionary.

Lentz also noted automakers are still grappling with the continuing shift in US consumer preference toward sport utility vehicles (SUVs).

Toyota is building a $1.6 billion joint venture assembly plant in Alabama with compatriot Mazda Motor Corp. (7261.T) that it expects to open in 2021. In July, Toyota said it would build SUVs at the plant rather than its Corolla line of cars.

Lentz said overall United States auto sales were around 400,000 vehicles higher than the firm forecast last year, and estimated the industry would sell about 17 million vehicles this year.

IMPROVED RELATIONS
Lentz guided Toyota in the United States through a number of challenges, most notably the 2010 unintended acceleration crisis that prompted the recall of millions of vehicles.

In 2014, Toyota agreed to pay a $1.2 billion fine and entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the US Justice Department after it admitted to misleading consumers in relation to the matter.

More recently, Toyota under Lentz improved its relationship with United States President Donald Trump and helped stave off vehicle import tariffs. Lentz attended a White House event in July after presidential adviser Ivanka Trump toured Toyota’s Kentucky operations in March. — Reuters