the rail industry reached out to president-elect donald trump on wednesday, asking him to move quickly on issues that include a tax reform reducing the corporate rate, fixing the <u+201c>broken regulatory system<u+201d> and <u+201c>embracement<u+201d> of fair and open trade. the statement from the association of american<u+00a0>railroads, which represents the nation<u+2019>s major freight railroads, went on to say: <u+201c>these policies, as well as the steady presence of america<u+2019>s privately owned freight rail network, are critical to enacting much of mr. trump<u+2019>s agenda, including public infrastructure investment.<u+201d> the rail industry is especially concerned about the protectionist positions mr. trump has taken on trade.<u+00a0>while the industry has been hit hard by the slump in crude oil and commodities markets as well as global trade in general, it has benefited from free trade with canada and mexico, particularly the fast-growing auto industry in mexico. but in a june speech, mr. trump said he would withdraw the u.s. from global trade alliances, including the north american free trade agreement, if it isn<u+2019>t renegotiated. <u+201c>i<u+2019>m going tell our nafta partners that i intend to immediately renegotiate the terms of that agreement to get a better deal for our workers,<u+201d> mr. trump said at the time. <u+201c>if they do not agree to a renegotiation, then i will submit notice<u+2026>that america intends to withdraw from the deal.<u+201d> he has also said he would kill the trans-pacific partnership, a pacific rim trade deal, which wouldn<u+2019>t help the volumes railroads get from global trade. mr. trump has also said numerous times that he is in favor of tariffs. reflecting investor concern about its heavy stake in u.s.-mexico trade, kansas city southern inc. <u+2019>s share price dived more than 10% in early trading on wednesday. william h. galligan, vice president of investor relations at kcs, told a stephens inc. investor conference on tuesday that the railroad was bracing to see an impact on its stock price that <u+201c>might be ugly tomorrow and then ugly for a little while afterward.<u+201d> mr. galligan said the railroad would <u+201c>have to look at our use of capital dollars<u+201d> if a trump administration is <u+201c>hellbent<u+201d> on restraining trade with mexico. but, he said he believes mr. trump would tread carefully on mexico trade. <u+201c>just think: the farming, the agricultural can be killed by this because of export [of] grain to mexico,<u+201d> he said, according to a factset transcript of the meeting. <u+201c>how about the exxon , [the] shells and all those ones who see this vast new market go away because of all this? i think it<u+2019>s more campaign rhetoric that plays well in certain states. and so i think long term<u+2026>i don<u+2019>t think it<u+2019>s as big a concern as maybe some people think.<u+201d> mr. galligan couldn<u+2019>t immediately be reached for comment on wednesday. meanwhile, the rail industry is also concerned about recent efforts by shippers to get regulators involved in the way it determines how to allocate service and share the rails. railroads own and maintain their own infrastructure. additional regulation would cut into profits, the industry argues and diminish the industry<u+2019>s ability to maintain its infrastructure.` <u+2014>paul page contributed to this article. write to betsy morris at betsy.morris@wsj.com
u.s. rail industry asks donald trump to embrace <u+2018>fair and open trade<u+2019>  - wsj
betsy morris