Axios: New lobbying player brings Trump-ready pitch on manufacturing
From Axios | by Ben Geman | March 21, 2025
A new group aims to bolster U.S. manufacturing via policies that ensure markets reward goods made more cleanly than competitors abroad.
Why it matters: The Cleaner Economy Coalition sees an opening in the Trump era even as it preps for much longer-term work.
Its first outside lobbyists are Trump-world and Capitol Hill GOP leadership vets.
Driving the news: It's a new affiliate of the Climate Leadership Council (CLC), a group that GOP elder statesmen launched in 2017.
The Cleaner Economy Coalition is a 501(c)(4) — a nonprofit class with a free hand to make lobbying and advocacy its main focus.
State of play: "We need an approach that starts with promoting U.S. competitiveness. That has to be the central component to any U.S. climate policy," Greg Bertelsen, the CEO of the CLC who's also heading the new group.
"We're leaving huge economic points on the board today, and we are risking ceding enormous economic opportunity in the future," he said.
U.S. manufacturing is already among the world's cleanest, "but in the global marketplace, they're getting almost no benefit for that."
What we're watching: The coalition sees chances to boost heavy industries (think steel, chemicals, cars and more) and thrive in growing global markets for advanced energy equipment.
Examples of policy goals include trade penalties against high-CO2 imports and retaining the IRA credit, called 45X, for manufacturing clean energy goods.
But they'll push a wide range of ideas. Not among them: "carbon dividends" (a version of a carbon tax) that have been among the CLC's big goals.
The intrigue: It has retained Michael Best Strategies, with lobbyists including Alexander Angelson, a legislative affairs aide in the first Trump White House.
There's also a trio of former aides to House Speaker Mike Johnson and ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy: Jason Yaworske, Brittan Specht and Preston Hill.
They've also brought on MO Strategies. Founder and GOP vet Marty Obst, who had senior roles in Trump's 2016 and 2020 races, and Rob Goad, a former Trump White House adviser, are listed.
"Right now, we are focused on getting in front of the administration and members of Congress on both sides of the aisle," Bertelsen said, though discussions about the new group began over a year ago.
The annual budget will be over seven figures. The CLC is currently a $4 million-plus outfit, and Bertelsen said the new affiliate will start below that, although where it eventually ends up is uncertain.
It will be funded via corporate contributions and "others who are aligned with our mission."
The bottom line: There's a "simple two-part test" for policy — does it make U.S. companies more competitive, and does it lower global emissions, Bertelsen said.
"If the answer to the first question is 'yes,' in most instances the answer to the second question is going to be 'yes' as well."