Trump Metal Tariffs Wreak Havoc On US Factory

ETVBHARAT

Independent Can's factory Operations are disrupted as Trump initially imposed 25 per cent tariffs on imported steel and aluminium and then doubled 50 per cent.

Transcript

00:00In the sweltering U.S. summer, metal containers decorated with snowman and sleighs are taking

00:07shape. But tempers are also rising as their manufacturers grapple with President Donald

00:12Trump's steep steel tariffs. At Independent Gans factory in Belkamp, Maryland northeast of

00:20Baltimore, CEO Rick Huther recounts how he started working at his family's business at age 14.

00:28Since returning to the presidency in January, Trump imposed tariffs of 25% on imported steel

00:35and aluminum and then doubled the rate to 50%. Right now we're holding off on investments,

00:42waiting to see the consistency of the policy versus the up and down and off and on.

00:49We're living in chaos right now. We don't know how to plan.

00:53This has weighed in operations at Independent Gans and Huther expects he eventually will have to

00:59raise prices. With a steady beat of presses, steel plates that have been coated with tin to prevent

01:07corrosion are turned into containers for cookies, dried fruit, coffee and milk powder at Huther's

01:14factory. But there is not enough of such American-made tin plate for companies like this.

01:20And in the United States, we can only make about 25% of the tin plate that's required to do what we do

01:28and what the sanitary people do and the aerosol people and the paint can people.

01:33Those all require us to buy in the neighborhood of 70% of our steel outside of the United States.

01:39Trump has announced a stream of major tariffs only to let it back off parts of them or postpone them

01:48and also impose duties on items the country does not produce.

01:52Right now, the tariffs are a challenge because we don't make the product here and we're tariffing

01:59things which ends up just being a tax for the people. If things that are not made here should not

02:03be tariffs. For now, Independent CAN, which employs nearly 400 people at four sites,

02:09is ruling out any layoffs despite the current upheaval. But Huther said one of the companies

02:17plant in Lowa closed last year in part because of a previous increase in steel tariffs during Trump's

02:24first presidential term. I think it is threatened by this. I think that our business will survive.

02:32There are things that have to be in metal just because of the longevity of the package on the

02:37shelf. It can last much longer in metal than other packages. But there may be some things that disappear

02:42and go to other alternative packaging. So we'll survive. It may cost jobs. We did close our plant in

02:50Iowa a year ago because of the tariffs that we're already in. With steel tariffs at 50% now, Huther

02:57expects he will ultimately have to raise his prices by more than 50% given that tin plate represents a

03:04part of his production costs. Some buyers have already reduced their orders this year by 20 to 25%

03:12over worries about the economy and about not having enough business themselves.

03:16So if a can is 50% steel and the 25% tariffs went in, you're going up about 12.5%.

03:24We did, through the first set of tariffs, absorb quite a bit of it. But now that we're getting to

03:2950%, we can't absorb that and remain in business. Others now seem more inclined to buy American.

03:37But Huther expressed reservations over how long this trend might last, citing his experiences from

03:44the COVID-19 crisis. Huther wants to believe that his company, which is almost a century old,

03:50after being founded during the Great Depression, will weather the latest disruptions.

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