Inside IPC: The Electronics Industry Fights for Stability in Washington with Richard Cappetto

Trade policy turbulence is creating unprecedented challenges for electronics manufacturers as they navigate a rapidly shifting landscape of tariffs, material cost increases, and regulatory uncertainty. Speaking from the final day of APEX 2025, Richard Cappetto, Senior Director North American Government Relations for IPC, reveals the behind-the-scenes advocacy work happening in Washington to represent the industry's interests during this critical period.

At the heart of the conversation lies a fundamental tension: while the administration aims to spark a manufacturing renaissance in America, the policy tools being deployed—particularly aggressive tariffs—may inadvertently undermine that very goal by destabilizing established supply chains. Rich shares how IPC submits formal comments and participates in closed-door meetings to educate policymakers about electronics manufacturing realities, emphasizing that the global networks built over decades cannot be reset overnight without significant disruption.

The interview illuminates the complex interconnectedness of modern manufacturing, where a single Silverado pickup truck crosses borders between the US, Mexico, and Canada numerous times during production. This example powerfully demonstrates why stability is crucial—manufacturers need predictability to plan investments, hire workers, and commit to long-term strategies. With copper tariffs potentially impacting every electronic device produced and tax policy changes looming on the horizon, IPC is gathering crucial data through industry surveys to strengthen their advocacy position. Rich's work extends beyond Washington, coordinating with counterparts in Europe and Asia to ensure a globally coherent approach that reflects the international nature of electronics manufacturing.

Ready to have your voice heard on these critical issues? Complete the IPC survey that was distributed to APEX 2025 attendees and help shape the policies that will determine the future of electronics manufacturing.

EMS@C-Level Live at APEX is sponsored by global inspection leaders Koh Young (https://www.kohyoung.com) and Creative Electron (https://creativeelectron.com)

EMS@C-Level is hosted by global inspection leaders Koh Young (https://www.kohyoung.com) and Global Electronics Association (https://www.electronics.org)

You can see video versions of all of the EMS@C-Level pods on our YouTube playlist.

Transcript

Tariffs and Administration Policy

Philip Stoten 0:08

Hello, I'm Philip Stoughton. I'm at Apex 2025. I'm on the last day and I'm joined by Rich from IPC. Rich, thanks for joining me. It's the first time we've spoken both on camera and off. Obviously, we're in a state of turmoil. A lot of the EMS leadership that I've been speaking to here are concerned about tariffs, not just because they want a specific outcome, because they want stability. Businesses crave stability Right. Tell me a little bit about the work you're doing in Washington. Tell me about the insight you have there and how that helps the leaders in the industry.

Richard Cappetto, Senior Director North American Government Relations at IPC 0:45

Yeah, absolutely so. As you mentioned, it's been a crazy couple of weeks since the beginning of the year and, yeah, the new president has made it clear that trade policy is something he cares greatly about and is going to try to affect his new vision for the United States economy using those tools. So we've seen tariffs on individual countries, materials like aluminum, steel and copper, and then this idea of a reciprocal or retaliatory trade regime that may come into effect as soon as April, first week of April. So we've been submitting formal comments to the administration letting them know how this impacts a manufacturing industry like electronics. And, to your point, stability. Know stability is needed to be able to plan investments and that the global supply chain that's been formed over the last 20 to 30 years is not something you can reset overnight and the disruption that occurs will really, in the end, hamper domestic manufacturing. So, as we may have a shared goal in trying to build US electronics manufacturing, we've urged the administration to think carefully about what actions they take that could unintentionally undermine that.

Stability and Investment Hesitation

Philip Stoten 2:18

Yeah, absolutely, and I think it's clear that their goal is to have a manufacturing renaissance here in the USA. It's clear that their goal is to have a manufacturing renaissance here in the USA and I think that's a good goal that everybody, particularly everybody manufacturing here, appreciates and actually the global manufacturers appreciate. I think one of the biggest challenges is the relationship with near neighbors, thinking about where we are with respect to Mexico, where we are with respect to Canada. One of the websites I follow gives these great stats and it's based entirely on the Silverado pickup truck. So every time there's a new tariff, they adjust the price. They've got a whole supply chain model and they price it Because apparently there's like 15 border crossings between the US, mexico and Canada.

Philip Stoten 3:07

To make one vehicle. It went up like $7,000, then there was a change and it went down $8,000. So it's been really interesting to see those statistics. But, more importantly, we're creating a bit of a hiatus in terms of investment because of that lack of clarity. Do you think April is when we're going to get a bit more clarity or do you still see the waves rolling for a while?

Richard Cappetto, Senior Director North American Government Relations at IPC 3:35

Yeah, I think the dust will settle sometime later this year, so there's obviously a lot of energy for the administration to come out strong and fast and implement the change that they promised to the American people change that they promised to the American people and I think when we see the impacts of that, there may be more opportunity later in the year to advocate for some changes to those policies.

Richard Cappetto, Senior Director North American Government Relations at IPC 4:05

So we're taking every opportunity now to make sure we represent the needs of the industry. And formal comments and meetings, closed door meetings yeah, right now we have. We've been working with a working group on the copper tariffs. So you know, copper is obviously something that's in every piece of electronics and we want to make sure the administration knows just how important that is and if you start raising the price of, of the costs on on a major input like that, how, how big of an impact that could have?

Richard Cappetto, Senior Director North American Government Relations at IPC 4:41

um, but yeah, I do think april will still see some, some, some, uh, churn and then, probably later in the year there might be more of an opportunity to yeah to affect change policies.

Government Personnel Changes

Philip Stoten 4:54

Yeah, it's interesting because it's clear trade is being used to further other agendas, so there's an impact there. I'm curious with the whole Doge thing and government cuts is there areas of cut there that you're concerned will have an impact on the electronics industry, or is it really very much government department?

Richard Cappetto, Senior Director North American Government Relations at IPC 5:15

department. It's hard to say at this point. I think you know anytime you have a change in administration you're going to have a change in in personnel. Yeah, of course, and so we were already working to identify who those folks are that we need to be working with in the department of commerce and in the white house, at department of labor, and so, um, certainly the the doge and the cutting amplifies that change between administrations. But as far as an advocacy goes, we're in the same position that we would be in any administration change, which is establishing those new relationships and letting them know what's important. Letting them know what's important. Letting them know what's important. Yeah, you know, we were excited to see Secretary of Commerce Lutnick voice support for domestic manufacturing in his confirmation hearings. Now, what that translates to in policy we'll wait to see. Yeah, but our position has always been we were supportive of chips. We view it critically as a first step. It fell short in a lot of areas with relation to electronics. So we'll be sure to bring that message to Secretary Lutnick as well.

Philip Stoten 6:23

Yeah, getting that message across. I think what's interesting and you talked about copper, you talked about chips one of the challenges the manufacturing industry that's here, which is predominantly the EMS and OEM sector, is looking at their bill of materials and figuring out where all the impact is. It's pretty complicated, you know. There are things that are subject to the tariffs, there are things that are separate from it, there are things that were in the USMCA, there are things that are not. It becomes a pretty complex picture and when that picture is changing regularly, it's a real challenge.

Manufacturing Impact and Surveys

Richard Cappetto, Senior Director North American Government Relations at IPC 6:58

It is so we have a survey open right now.

Richard Cappetto, Senior Director North American Government Relations at IPC 7:01

All the participants at APEX got it in the app to complete the survey, both on tariff impacts but also on the tax policy changes that are happening this year, so in 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed in the first Trump administration that lowered corporate tax rates and allowed for investment deductions for purchasing capital equipment, and that is currently all being negotiated this year again, and so it's important for industry to tell us what is important, what's gonna impact their business, so that we can take that factual data to Capitol Hill and to the administration.

Global Advocacy and Cooperation

Philip Stoten 7:43

Yeah, fill out the survey. It's important we need to get that done. Last comment more than a question, you've done a great job with an IPC of not just doing this advocacy in Washington but actually repeating it elsewhere. How important is it for you to be able to reach out to Allison in Europe or people elsewhere in India or wherever else and say, hey, what's going on from your side, what's, what does it look like from there? Because you know it is all about those relationships.

Richard Cappetto, Senior Director North American Government Relations at IPC 8:12

Yeah, I would, uh, just echo what our CEO, john Mitchell, said in his keynote yesterday, that it's a global industry and we have to be building bridges, and so our vice president of global government affairs, chris Mitchell, impresses that across the entire government relations too. So we do work hand in hand with Europe and Asia to make sure we're identifying solutions that help the global industry, but also my focus is North America building a stronger North American ecosystem, and our companies are global, so when, I hear from some large EMS companies.

Richard Cappetto, Senior Director North American Government Relations at IPC 8:53

they may be calling and asking about an issue with moving manufacturing from one region to another, and how can we work together? So there might be engagement with the Department of State and then coordinating with India or elsewhere.

Philip Stoten 9:11

Yeah, I think it's really important that you do that. Important that you do that and I think you know when you, when you look at the last five to ten years of IPC, it's made incredible strides in becoming that global organization yes, very, very valuable rich pleasure to chat to you first of many interviews, I hope, and thank you.