No shit!!

‘We’re the ones it’s going to hurt’: Trump tariffs fuel angst in Trump country

By BEN WHITE and JENNY AMENT

Corey Southard steers red-hot molten steel slabs all day. And he’s worried about his job.

The 48-year-old assistant roller at NLMK Pennsylvania says President Donald Trump’s steel tariffs have driven up costs for his company and left everyone at his western Pennsylvania plant — deep in the heart of Trump country — on edge.

“Trump’s supposed to be making America great again, right? Why isn’t he creating more jobs here instead of taking jobs away?” Southward said in a new edition of the POLITICO Money podcast.

Southward spoke from his spot in the “pulpit,” a control room high above a conveyor belt that presses 10-inch-thick steel slabs into thin, rolled coils for resale. “We just want it to go away, man, so we can continue with our jobs. That’s all that’s talked about around here anymore.”

Stories like that of NLMK are playing out across the country from Iowa soybean farmers slammed by retaliatory Chinese tariffs to Michigan auto industry workers worried about the metal tariffs and the impact of proposed levies on imported cars and parts.

As troubling headlines about the impact of tariffs pile up, Trump is preaching patience, repeatedly arguing that tariffs are “the greatest” and will eventually lead to better trade deals while reviving the steel industry and boosting U.S. automakers.

“Just be a little patient,” he told farmers in Kansas City, Mo. last month around the time he announced a $12 billion federal bailout for agricultural exporters hit by the fallout.

But patience is quickly running thin at places like NLMK, which buys steel on the world market. Company president and CEO Bob Miller said NLMK has paid an extra $100 million since Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on imported steel went into effect. He says he can’t buy the steel slabs he needs from domestic sources. And that means higher prices for his customers and ultimately consumers. His pleas to the Commerce Department for an exemption have so far come to nothing.

“On one hand you might think you’re helping jobs and increasing jobs, but on the other hand, you’re going to affect jobs here,” Miller said. “And I think our 1,200 jobs here in western Pennsylvania are just as important as jobs in Granite City or across this country.” He was referring to a steel plant in Granite City, Ill., that reopened after the tariffs and received a visit from Trump in July to celebrate.

Democrats, sensing an opportunity to make inroads into Trump country in the industrial Midwest and farm belt during the midterms, are hammering away at the tariffs.

NLMK lies just to the north of the western Pennsylvania district — which Trump won by over 20 points — that Democrats wrested back in a surprise special election victory by Conor Lamb in March. Democrat Amy McGrath is hammering incumbent Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) over the impact on Kentucky bourbon. And Democrats are also using tariffs in House races in New Jersey, Iowa and California and Senate races in North Dakota, Indiana, Missouri and Tennessee, among other places.

The political calculus — largely backed up by most empirical studies on the impact of tariffs — is that Trump’s trade actions will wind up hurting more industries and workers than they help.

One place they are helping is the Mon Valley Works – Edgar Thomson Plant, a facility owned by U.S. Steel on the banks of the Monongahela River in Braddock, Pa., that’s been in operation since 1872.

POLITICO interviewed over a dozen employees arriving and leaving work and in the surrounding community over a period of two days. None agreed to provide their last names because they were not authorized by U.S. Steel to speak on the record. U.S. Steel executives declined requests for interviews. Most of the workers said they backed Trump in 2016 and were at least generally supportive of the tariffs.

“A lot of people don’t like Trump. But Trump’s the one that’s turning things around the way it should be,” said Steve, a caster water control operator. “Everybody’s got to give it a chance to play out. Like China, they’re guilty. Other countries are guilty. We’ve been giving everybody a break for years upon years.”

Dan, who works in the shipping department at the plant, said the tariffs would benefit more than just U.S. Steel. “It’s not just steelworkers benefiting from the tariffs. It’s the food suppliers and the boot suppliers and the clothes suppliers and the parts suppliers that keep us running,” he said. “So it’s a trickle effect and then our employees and everybody else that works with us make decent money.”

But even these workers, direct beneficiaries of the steel tariffs in the short run, expressed some concern over Trump’s long-term plan.

“I’m not sure yet. Waiting to see. I don’t think a trade war is good with anybody. You know what I mean?” said Bob, who operates a machine that moves steel around the plant. “So we’ll see what these tariffs do, but I’m undecided on that. It’s too early to tell, OK? It’s good for individual companies – but the overall economy, I don’t know about that.”

Dave, who works in maintenance and production, said higher steel prices created by the tariffs might be unsustainable. “I think it’s going to help us in the short-run but I don’t know about in the long-run if it’s going to help us,” he said. “The price of steel has doubled since he’s done that and I don’t know if that’s going to last. Since I’ve been there, it’s never been nowhere near that price. So I’m just skeptical about the whole thing.”

There was also significant skepticism about Trump’s motivations in applying the tariffs, potentially an early warning sign for the White House, though the president’s overall approval rating among Republicans remains historically high.

“I don’t think anything he does is going to help us,” said Mike, a contractor who does electrical work at the plant. “Everything I think he does is for personal gain.”

The problem for Trump and the GOP: There are a lot more workers in industries that use steel and aluminum than in companies producing them, tilting both the potential economic and political gains from the tariffs away from him.

Economist Jed Kolko estimates there are 415,000 jobs in companies that produce steel and aluminum while 4.6 million work in industries that use the metals, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

At NLMK in Braddock, which is owned by Russian steel giant Novolipetsk Steel, workers argue that Trump’s tariffs will indeed wind up hurting more people than they help.

“It’s like a double-edged sword. They probably do need tariffs on certain stuff and it’s helping some people and hurting the other people,” said Robbie Smith, a roller who’s worked at the plant for over 20 years. “It seems like we’re the ones it’s going to hurt if they stick with it.”

Miller, the CEO, said he could handle the tariffs for now, with the economy as strong as it is. But that won’t last forever.

“If we see this market start to slow down and if we see selling prices start to fall, then yes, those jobs are at risk,” he said.