2018-06-30cbsnews.com

Steel tariffs that went into effect the first week of June are causing a factory in Missouri to lay off dozens of workers due to lost business from cancelled customer orders.

At the MidContinent Steel and Wire plant in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, where Magnum Fasteners products are made, 60 employees were laid off this month as certain operations were idled due to lost business from increased steel costs.

...

"The imposition of these tariffs on our raw materials on June 1st has actually put our operations into a crisis mode," operations general manager Chris Pratt told KFVS in an interview.

One employee laid off last Monday said the layoffs could be a sign of bigger problems at the nail factory, KFVS reported.

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Pratt says their customers have canceled 50 percent of their orders because the price of their products have jumped since the steel tariffs started.

"The low priced import nails that we are having to compete with ... has forced our customers to start seeking products in those areas," Pratt said. "That means going away from the U.S.-manufactured product that supports our local industry and jobs."

Once you start with tariffs as a "solution", you can't stop -- you need tariffs on intermediate and finished goods, else their makers cannot compete and actually harmed as bad as foreign manufacturers of the raw goods. (Side note, it's not in this article, but another one on this same local news pointed out that Pratt voted for Trump. Ouch.)



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