The first layoffs from Trump’s tariffs are here

[Mileage Psycho]

Hmmm

Quote

 

The first layoffs from Trump’s tariffs are here

The first casualties of President Trump's trade war are 60 workers at Mid-Continent Nail, America's largest nail manufacturer. They lost their jobs on June 15 at a factory in a part of Missouri that voted overwhelmingly for Trump. The whole company could be out of business by Labor Day.

This is a potential game changer in Trump's trade strategy, especially if it marks the start of more companies announcing layoffs. On Monday, Harley-Davidson said it will be moving some “production” offshore because of the trade war (Europe hit Harley with a 31 percent tariff in response to Trump's steel tariffs on Europe). Harley won't confirm if jobs are leaving the United States, but the union representing many Harley workers, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, is worried.

The Trump administration has argued that these tariffs will save jobs and that the cost to America will be minor. But now there are real job losses. Now there is a human face on the pain that so many trade experts have been warning about.

The political pressure on Trump to stop the tariffs (especially on America's allies) is likely to escalate. In Missouri, a state with a close U.S. Senate race, the layoffs are already becoming a hot election issue. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) is planning a rally by the nail plant on Friday.

Mid-Continent Nail blames the layoffs on Trump's tariffs and the company says all 500 employees could lose their jobs by Labor Day. The next round of cuts could come in a matter of days.

The trouble for the company started at the end of May when Trump put a hefty 25 percent tariff on steel imports from Mexico and Canada. Mid-Continent had been importing steel from Mexico that American workers would then turn into nails.

After the tariff, the company was forced to hike its prices and customers fled. Orders are a mere 30 percent of what they were a year ago, said George Skarich, the vice president of sales. He suspects many customers are now buying Chinese nails.

“There's a lot of uncertainty and a ton of fear in Poplar Bluff,” said Skarich. He voted for Trump and says he's “disappointed” and “sad” at what's happening to a town and company he loves.

If Skarich had a minute with Trump, he says he'd tell him these tariffs aren't hurting China, they are hurting Missouri. The workers who lost their jobs on June 15 were contract workers paid about $10 an hour, but the next round of layoffs will hit longtime employees, many of whom are making $13 to $14 an hour plus benefits. That's a middle-class job in Poplar Bluff where the median income is just over $31,000 a year.

Trump campaigned on “jobs, jobs, jobs.” He promised to be the “greatest jobs producer God ever created.” He and his team regularly argue that the tariffs are going to save jobs and even bring jobs back from overseas. But the vast majority of economists and business leaders have warned that many more jobs are likely to be lost than saved.

The Tax Foundation predicts 48,585 job losses from the tariffs Trump has already enacted on imports of washing machines, solar panels, steel, aluminum and $50 billion in Chinese products. That figure would soar to over 250,000 job losses if Trump moves forward with tariffs on another $200 billion of Chinese products, the Tax Foundation said.

Predicting the outcome of a trade war is difficult. The overall U.S. economy is unlikely to fall into a recession because of this, most economists say, but it's likely to curtail growth a bit as companies hold off on hiring more workers or building new factories. And some parts of the country are likely to be hard hit. Europe, Canada, Turkey and China are targeting their tariffs at towns that voted for Trump.

Supporters of Trump’s tariffs point out that the protectionist moves have yielded job gains. Nearly 4,700 American jobs have been created since the steel and aluminum tariffs went into effect as businesses like U.S. Steel restart blast furnaces for in Illinois, and Century Aluminum reopened an aluminum smelter in Kentucky. Many of these positions are union jobs that come with $60,000 salaries and benefits.

“Idled steel and aluminum capacity is being restarted as we sit here,” said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross at a Senate hearing last week.

But the situation in Missouri is a warning sign of how the tariffs are helping some workers and harming others, and that's tricky politics for Trump who looks like he is picking winners and losers.

Workers in New Madrid County, Missouri are celebrating as Magnitude 7 Metals is restarting an aluminum product line, giving 450 workers back their jobs. But just an hour away in Poplar Bluff, 500 workers could be out of a job by the end of the summer.

The president's focus has been on saving jobs that make raw steel and aluminum, but there are many more jobs that are harmed by the tariffs because they turn raw metal into something else like a car or airplane. The longer the tariffs are in place, the more companies are likely to have to make cuts.

Experts have warned Trump that the tariffs are likely to cause more job losses than jobs saved, and the early signs of that are starting to play out in small towns south of St. Louis

As the job losses mount, so may the pressure on Trump.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-first-layoffs-from-trump’s-tariffs-are-here/ar-AAza55V

 

 

[xtralettucetomatoe580]

So let me ask this question since Vince doesn’t seem to want to take anything more than a surface dive on these topics... Canadian Steel was what? 10-15% cheaper on average? So with a 25% tariff they were only paying 10-15% more until they reached the next best thing being US steel prices? So a 10% increase in costs shut their sales down 30% over the year in two weeks? That doesn’t sound like BS? This company is going under after two weeks of tariffs that haven’t even taken effect on their supply yet? Oh really? Did they not have any WIP or raw material inventory? They blew through that in what? A day? So much so that it caused their sales to dip so violently that it ripped their average down 30%? 

I know it sucks having to use common sense and basic math, but this story is complete bullshit fabrication at best. The company was failing well before this tariff if you look at the pure hard and fast numbers. NOT TO MENTION this company actually had negative sales in a construction boom... selling nails. Total bs. 

[spin_dry]

2 minutes ago, Mileage Psycho said:

Hmmm

 

I knew next to nothing about the steel industry. Last week I met a salesman that works for a nearby company that supplies steel to counter top/cabinet companies and a local mfg of washers and dryers. He said that things aren’t looking very good. Prices are out of control and shortages are increasing. He indicated that some products aren’t available anywhere except from outside the country, with no domestic production expected for years. 

[Mainecat]

31% tarrifs 

MAGA

[BOHICA]

60 workers laid off and the first of the tariffs....  the tariffs have caused hundreds upon hundreds of new jobs in the steel industry.  So far the tariffs appear to be creating more jobs then we are losing due to the tariffs.

[Woodtick]

3 minutes ago, xtralettucetomatoe580 said:

So let me ask this question since Vince doesn’t seem to want to take anything more than a surface dive on these topics... Canadian Steel was what? 10-15% cheaper on average? So with a 25% tariff they were only paying 10-15% more until they reached the next best thing being US steel prices? So a 10% increase in costs shut their sales down 30% over the year in two weeks? That doesn’t sound like BS? This company is going under after two weeks of tariffs that haven’t even taken effect on their supply yet? Oh really? Did they not have any WIP or raw material inventory? They blew through that in what? A day? So much so that it caused their sales to dip so violently that it ripped their average down 30%? 

I know it sucks having to use common sense and basic math, but this story is complete bullshit fabrication at best. The company was failing well before this tariff if you look at the pure hard and fast numbers. NOT TO MENTION this company actually had negative sales in a construction boom... selling nails. Total bs. 

 

[spin_dry]

 

[xtralettucetomatoe580]

And let’s get even more common sense here. This company doesn’t sell nail by nail. They sell orders. No way from the time this tariff came into place until now did their sales drop (weighted for a year) 30%. Those orders were already in the works with purchased raw material on contract. Unless these fuckers are claiming they are projecting a 30% drop? If that’s the case, their company is so weak that it will shed 60 employees at the whiff of a 10% increase in raw material/wip prices without it ever going into their supply chain. That, my friends, should say all you need to hear on this company. If anything it may cut into their margins in a construction boom. What was their profit margin? Fishy as fuck. 

 

[f7ben]

20 minutes ago, spin_dry said:

I knew next to nothing about the steel industry. Last week I met a salesman that works for a nearby company that supplies steel to counter top/cabinet companies and a local mfg of washers and dryers. He said that things aren’t looking very good. Prices are out of control and shortages are increasing. He indicated that some products aren’t available anywhere except from outside the country, with no domestic production expected for years. 

That is 100% complete bullshit. Sorry to say. There is nothing that is available outside the country that isnt produced here. 

[Rigid1]

Interesting thing about their facility in MO..

[spin_dry]

5 minutes ago, Rigid1 said:

Interesting thing about their facility in MO..

Sounds like mercury marine.  

Remember, that nail plant is in red state MO. Shit hole. 

[spin_dry]

14 minutes ago, f7ben said:

That is 100% complete bullshit. Sorry to say. There is nothing that is available outside the country that isnt produced here. 

Of course they are. He was referring to shortages on various products. Nothing domestic is available.

[f7ben]

12 minutes ago, spin_dry said:

Of course they are. He was referring to shortages on various products. Nothing domestic is available.

Well that is a very temporary situation and it is the issue that we are trying to correct. The steel industry has been so decimated that a significant amount of plants are operating at very low utilization up until recently. As more capacity comes back on line prices will stabilize and supply will correct itself. 

[Jimmy Snacks]

Is it just me or does Spinvag seem to be rooting for failure in this country? 

[xtralettucetomatoe580]

Just now, Jimmy Snacks said:

Is it just me or does Spinvag seem to be rooting for failure in this country? 

The whole left is. Because the alternate is trump getting it right and their 3 year campaign against him would be weakened. It’s all about partisan winning. Sickening 

[Jimmy Snacks]

1 minute ago, xtralettucetomatoe580 said:

The whole left is. Because the alternate is trump getting it right and their 3 year campaign against him would be weakened. It’s all about partisan winning. Sickening 

Very sickening....all partisan hacks must hang.

[f7ben]

2 minutes ago, Jimmy Snacks said:

Very sickening....all partisan hacks must hang.

geeze.......you sound just like someone I know !!!!!!!!!1111

[Jimmy Snacks]

Just now, f7ben said:

geeze.......you sound just like someone I know !!!!!!!!!1111

[xtralettucetomatoe580]

Notice how as soon as these jobs/Harley threads are hit with some facts and perspective they all bail? Not one of them can refute the hard truth. They were duped by bad journalism and bullshit. 

[f7ben]

Just now, xtralettucetomatoe580 said:

Notice how as soon as these jobs/Harley threads are hit with some facts and perspective they all bail? Not one of them can refute the hard truth. They were duped by bad journalism and bullshit. 

At least Ballsack the Small moved on from Harley to Wisconsin Cheese after he figured out he was backing a losing horse......  fucking morons

[xtralettucetomatoe580]

2 minutes ago, f7ben said:

At least Ballsack the Small moved on from Harley to Wisconsin Cheese after he figured out he was backing a losing horse......  fucking morons

It’s sad. He knows he’s peddling bs. He does it anyways. 

[f7ben]

1 minute ago, xtralettucetomatoe580 said:

It’s sad. He knows he’s peddling bs. He does it anyways. 

Its because in Chicago circles of wannabee bigshots substance takes a back seat to cause celebre

[Anler]

Send them my way, I need workers right now. 

[Mileage Psycho]

2 hours ago, spin_dry said:

I knew next to nothing about the steel industry. Last week I met a salesman that works for a nearby company that supplies steel to counter top/cabinet companies and a local mfg of washers and dryers. He said that things aren’t looking very good. Prices are out of control and shortages are increasing. He indicated that some products aren’t available anywhere except from outside the country, with no domestic production expected for years. 

I'm all for more American industry and have supported  US industry with my pocketbook since I became a consumer, the problem with Trump's bombastic methods is that he is making everyone an enemy at one time, and this country for all of it's great strength simply can't be taking on the whole world at one time

2 hours ago, xtralettucetomatoe580 said:

And let’s get even more common sense here. This company doesn’t sell nail by nail. They sell orders. No way from the time this tariff came into place until now did their sales drop (weighted for a year) 30%. Those orders were already in the works with purchased raw material on contract. Unless these fuckers are claiming they are projecting a 30% drop? If that’s the case, their company is so weak that it will shed 60 employees at the whiff of a 10% increase in raw material/wip prices without it ever going into their supply chain. That, my friends, should say all you need to hear on this company. If anything it may cut into their margins in a construction boom. What was their profit margin? Fishy as fuck. 

 

And what business experience do you have?

I have a little business experience and I'm going to clue you into manufacturing acronym call JIT (just in time manufacturing) and I'm familiar with it in the real world that I do business in, and yes in today's business world a manufacturing concern can go tits up in a heart beat.

 

 

[Mileage Psycho]

1 hour ago, xtralettucetomatoe580 said:

It’s sad. He knows he’s peddling bs. He does it anyways. 

And your business experience is?