Business Groups: Fist Bumps for Obama

President Barack Obama spent a lot of time talking about business in his State of the Union address last night, and most business groups liked what he said.

Let’s start with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has been a fierce adversary of Obama’s on health-care reform, financial regulatory reform and regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. Chamber President and CEO Tom Donohue now sounds ready to work with Obama “to ensure America’s greatness into the 21st century.”

Donohue appreciated the fact that Obama “highlighted the urgent need to revitalize our economy, create jobs, build a world-class infrastructure system and strengthen America’s competitiveness.”

“The U.S. Chamber will work with anyone who shares our goals, and we don’t care who gets the credit,” Donohue said.

The Business Roundtable, which is composed of big-business CEOs, was “heartened” by Obama’s “focus on American competitiveness,” said President John Engler, a former Republican governor of Michigan. But he said Obama’s proposals “must now be analyzed closely to ensure they will promote, rather than stifle, an environment where the private sector can create jobs and expand the economy.”

The National Association of Manufacturers was pleased with the president’s support for expanding international trade.

“The president’s comments on increasing our exports, opening new markets and passing pending free-trade agreements are all important elements to achieving job creation, economic growth and competitiveness,” said NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons.

Dissenting voices came from two associations representing domestic manufacturers that have been hurt by what they view as unfair trade deals.

“It looks like the Clinton-era retreads now running the White House have decided that Clinton-like trade deals will cure what ails America’s economy,” said Kevin Kearns, president of the U.S. Business and Industry Council.

Despite promises about how these trade deals would benefit American companies, “U.S. exports still badly lag U.S. imports, and the most effective foreign trade barriers remain firmly in place.”

Plus, Kearns said Obama “has insulted an entire generation of domestic manufacturers and their employees by blaming their troubles on a failure to innovate and a determination to ‘stand pat.’ Actually, he and his predecessors have long failed these world-class domestic producers by ignoring the rigged overseas markets and massive subsidies that force them to compete against foreign governments, not foreign companies.”

Scott Paul, executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, said Obama was right in saying America faces “a new Sputnik moment,” but noted that 50 years ago, “America had a trade surplus, a healthy manufacturing base, and virtually no business competition. Our challenge today is as much about rebuilding as it has about innovating.”

The National Small Business Association, however, liked the president’s emphasis on innovation.

“Innovation is what we do,” said NSBA Chair Larry Nannis. “Small firms produce five times as many patents per revenue dollar as large companies and 20 times as many as universities.”

Obama’s call for reducing corporate taxes is welcome, according to NSBA, but the individual tax code also must be reformed since most small businesses are pass-through entities when it comes to taxes. It wouldn’t be fair to make small businesses pay higher taxes than multinational corporations on their business income, NSBA stated.

The National Retail Federation also applauded Obama’s call for tax reform.

“Retail has one of the highest effective tax rates in the U.S., so we strongly support a simpler system with lower rates that would make it easier for our sector to grow and create more jobs,” said NRF President and CEO Mattthew Shay.

The National Association for the Self Employed hopes Obama doesn’t focus too much on corporate America as he pursues his competitiveness agenda.

“The vast majority of American businesses are very small and have little in common with the small club of corporate giants,” said NASE Executive Director Kristie Arlan. “Getting our economy back on track has to focus on helping small businesses stay afloat and thrive.”

Dan Danner, president and CEO of the National Federation of Independent Business, said “there were a few hopeful moments for small business owners in the president’s speech.” Overall, however, “our impression is that, when the Obama administration talks about ‘business’ they really mean big business,” he said.

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Kent Hoover is the Washington bureau chief for bizjournals.