Giantone
07-26-2018, 07:34 AM
Very good read.............
https://my.xfinity.com/articles/news-national/20180726/APFN-US--Trump-Trade-Steel-Town-fa4f
While we're happy Granite City has those jobs coming back, it's a lot harder to see the jobs that are lost or not created in the rest of the state because of the tariffs," said Illinois Chamber of Commerce President Todd Maisch. He described the administration's policies as "really negative" for most of Illinois, the nation's fifth-largest economy.
Richard Guebert, a farmer and president of the Illinois Farm Bureau, said he told Vice President Mike Pence during a meeting last week that there's "a lot of angst" among farmers after several tough years and with another strong crop likely to lower prices this year. He worries particularly about whether young farmers will be able to keep going in a state where one of every four rows of soybeans is exported to China.
"Older, more seasoned farmers have a better asset base. They can weather storms like this," Guebert said. "The young farmers are having a definite challenge."
A $12 billion aid package the administration announced Tuesday to help farmers hurt by the trade disputes is "a start," Guebert said, but "won't make farmers whole in the face of continued trade tensions."
Factories around the region also have been hurt. Mid Continent Nail Corp. in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, has shuttered a multimillion-dollar plant and is "on the brink of extinction."
The company, which says it's the nation's largest nail manufacturer, employed 510 workers before Trump raised tariffs on June 1 but has since slashed its workforce to 370, spokesman James Glassman said. The tariffs led to a big jump in the price of steel wire, the raw material Mid Continent imports from Mexico to make nails. When Mid Continent raised its prices 25 percent, customers turned to cheaper foreign-made nails.
"This is a county that went 79 percent for Trump so people are certainly willing to give him the benefit of the doubt," Glassman said. "But their jobs are at stake because of this misguided tariff."
https://my.xfinity.com/articles/news-national/20180726/APFN-US--Trump-Trade-Steel-Town-fa4f
While we're happy Granite City has those jobs coming back, it's a lot harder to see the jobs that are lost or not created in the rest of the state because of the tariffs," said Illinois Chamber of Commerce President Todd Maisch. He described the administration's policies as "really negative" for most of Illinois, the nation's fifth-largest economy.
Richard Guebert, a farmer and president of the Illinois Farm Bureau, said he told Vice President Mike Pence during a meeting last week that there's "a lot of angst" among farmers after several tough years and with another strong crop likely to lower prices this year. He worries particularly about whether young farmers will be able to keep going in a state where one of every four rows of soybeans is exported to China.
"Older, more seasoned farmers have a better asset base. They can weather storms like this," Guebert said. "The young farmers are having a definite challenge."
A $12 billion aid package the administration announced Tuesday to help farmers hurt by the trade disputes is "a start," Guebert said, but "won't make farmers whole in the face of continued trade tensions."
Factories around the region also have been hurt. Mid Continent Nail Corp. in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, has shuttered a multimillion-dollar plant and is "on the brink of extinction."
The company, which says it's the nation's largest nail manufacturer, employed 510 workers before Trump raised tariffs on June 1 but has since slashed its workforce to 370, spokesman James Glassman said. The tariffs led to a big jump in the price of steel wire, the raw material Mid Continent imports from Mexico to make nails. When Mid Continent raised its prices 25 percent, customers turned to cheaper foreign-made nails.
"This is a county that went 79 percent for Trump so people are certainly willing to give him the benefit of the doubt," Glassman said. "But their jobs are at stake because of this misguided tariff."