WASHINGTON, D.C. — In the 2024 election, Republicans took control of the White House and the U.S. Senate. According to Reuters, they likely won a narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives too.
In the Exhibitions & Conferences Alliance’s (ECA) ECA Votes post-election recap webinar, Tommy Goodwin, ECA Vice President, and Austin O’Boyle, Vice President of Advocacy at Aristotle International, discussed how these results could impact the events industry and how you can join the conversation.
International Trade Barriers
Goodwin noted that the Trump Administration’s foreign policy proposals could make it more expensive to import supplies from abroad.
“The President-elect has been very outspoken about his interest in resetting the international trade environment, using both tariffs and non-tariff barriers to ensure that more goods are produced here in the U.S.,” Goodwin explained. “But that also has the detrimental impact of making goods that come in from abroad much more costly. I’m thinking, for example, of our experiential designers right now, some of the things that they import from abroad — aluminum, for example — where tariffs have gone up as much as 200% over the last several years. Those tariffs were started during the Trump Administration, but they were continued during the Biden Administration and, in some cases, were increased quite substantially.”
Goodwin added that President Trump does not necessarily need approval from Capitol Hill to enact trade policies, which means he could enact them quickly after being sworn in.
“This is something that the President has pretty-wide policy latitude granted already, so it is something to keep an eye on,” Goodwin explained.
Sustainability Regulations
While the Trump Administration is likely to strike down existing sustainability regulations, Goodwin believes that many state and local governments in blue states will enact legislation in response.
“With President Trump and a Republican-led Congress, you can certainly expect to see some deregulation when it comes to climate,” Goodwin said. “You can see some rolling back of some of the policies that the Biden-Harris administration and the Democratic Congress passed back in 2021 and 2022 … but if you think back to President-elect Trump’s first term, there was the withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, which, again, you might see next year, and what that resulted in was a lot of energy at the state and local levels around climate … if you’re looking for where you might see more climate policies that might impact the business events industry, I would think about those blue states where the industry has a really big presence — California, Illinois, New York [and] maybe Massachusetts.”
Related. Exhibitions & Conferences Alliance Launches ECA Advocacy Network
A Potential Tax Cliff
According to Goodwin, taxes will be front and center during the first 100 days of the Trump Administration.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act from 2017 is set to expire at the end of 2025, leading to what is known as a “tax cliff.” Goodwin believes that many legislators will seek to extend its policies, which could cost $4.6 trillion.
“There is going to be at least some pressure on Capitol Hill to help pay for these extended tax breaks and that is in particular an area where ECA has a lot of interest, and it will be very active as this new Congress is sworn in around making sure, as members of Congress start to look for what they call ‘pay-fors’ for these tax cuts, we don’t get anywhere near some of the things that are particularly of interest to the industry,” Goodwin added.
The ECA will work to protect the industry from tax increases, whether they are for small business, corporations, associations or private investments, while continuing its other advocacy efforts, which include stimulating workforce development and reducing visa wait times.
How You Can Get Involved
O’Boyle explained that the Republican control of the White House and Senate (and likely the House of Representatives), which was unanticipated by many pundits, means that policy could be enacted faster.
“It’s not about negotiating between the two parties necessarily — it’s about making sure that the majority hears what you need, understands the value proposition behind that and includes it in whatever package we’re looking for,” O’Boyle said. “These vehicles are going to be moving faster than originally anticipated and folks want to make sure that we’re having our voices heard on a variety of issues to make sure that whatever we need hitches a ride and we don’t miss the boat.”
O’Boyle added that relying on lobbyists is not sufficient either.
“In this day and age, it’s no longer enough to just have a lobbyist in D.C. having meetings. You need to create enough strategically-placed noise to make sure that people are hearing exactly what you need and understand the broader value that it brings to not only our industry, but also their district and the country,” O’Boyle explained. “Incorporate a wide variety of strategies to make sure that we’re actually moving the needle.”
To get your voice heard, O’Boyle suggested strategic social media posts, meetings with lawmakers and working with journalists.
Industry leaders who want to contribute can visit the ECA Advocacy Network to easily draft emails to legislators, create social media posts and even invite lawmakers to their shows so they can see firsthand how business events benefit their constituents, state and country.
Look out for the ECA’s upcoming Legislative Action Day, where events power players will converge on Washington, D.C. to advance vital policy initiatives.
To learn more about the ECA, click here.
