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  August 15th, 2017 | Written by

Competitors UPS and FedEx Unite to Demand Reform

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  • UPS and FedEx CEOs call on Trump to make good on campaign promises.
  • UPS and FedEx CEOs demand efforts on infrastructure, tax reform, and trade agreements.
  • US is squandering an explosion of technological innovation, say UPS and FedEx chiefs.

The chief executives of UPS and FedEx authored a joint op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal calling for the Trump administration to make good on its campaign promises to revitalize national infrastructure and reform the tax code. In the article which appeared on Sunday FedEx CEO Fred Smith and UPS chairman David Abney also called for modernizing trade agreements.

The heads of the two logistics giants, who described themselves as “fierce competitors,” argued the United States was squandering an explosion of technological innovation and urbanization. “We are not seizing the opportunity to grow our economy,” they wrote.

The two executives took exceptions to President Trump’s scuttling of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, saying that move served to push the center of gravity of international trade away from the US and towards Asia and Europe. If the US is to benefit form the improving global economy, they noted, the government will have to move fast, but the current gridlock engulfing the US Congress and executive branch, does not encourage optimism that such an outcome will come about.

Nor, the added, is Trump’s much-touted negotiating prowess in evidence when comes to translating rhetoric into the wins for trade and the economy he promised during the 2016 presidential campaign.

“Now is the time for Americans to think and act boldly,” the CEOs wrote. “If fierce competitors can agree on these fundamental policy priorities, can’t we all?