Nailed by Steel Tariffs
Trump protectionism is driving a Missouri company to the brink.
When President Trump promised to make America great again, the employees at Mid Continent Nail in Missouri probably didn't expect he would put them out of work. But the steel tariffs imposed in June have the company hanging by a thread.
Mid Continent is the largest nail manufacturer in the U.S. and has been in Missouri for more than 25 years. It had 500 employees at its Poplar Bluff plant and was the second largest employer in the small town before the Trump tariffs hit.
The trouble for Mid Continent is that foreign producers making nails abroad use low-price steel and export their production to the U.S. They can offer better prices than their U.S. rival because, as Chris Pratt, operations general manager for the plant, explained in a Journal op-ed last month, the tariffs pushed costs up "overnight" and made the company uncompetitive. "Orders dropped 70% in two weeks, and our workforce shrank from 500 employees to 370," he wrote.
Mid Continent is seeking a tariff exemption from the Commerce Department on grounds that it can't find enough of the steel wire it needs in the U.S. Nucor Corporation, a U.S. steelmaker that is reaping profits from the tariffs, objected to Mid Continent's request and said it could supply the steel wire. Mid-South Wire Company said the same. But last week CNN Money reported that "Mr. Pratt said that neither company on its own could supply enough raw material."
Time is running out. "I can tell you that if we don't get immediate relief, we could be shut down in the next 20 to 30 days," Mr. Pratt told CNN. While a recent meeting with a "very sympathetic" Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross offers hope, some 20,000 companies have filed exemption requests. Which is another way of saying that for every steel job that Mr. Trump claims he has "saved" with his tariffs, many more are being eliminated.
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