Posted on 03/10/2018 6:10:23 AM PST by reaganaut1
Small manufacturers that fashion metal into parts for makers of cars, appliances and other products fear they could be the hardest hit by new tariffs on aluminum and steel.
“I’m worried,” said Dave Arndt, chief executive of Pentaflex Inc. of Springfield, Ohio, whose products include components such as truck axles and exhaust systems. Steel accounts for 60% of his product costs, and customers could leave if he raises prices. “There’s a lot of risk.”
Many of the smaller manufacturers at the heart of the American supply chain are firms few outside their industries or communities have ever heard of. They are the so-called metal-benders: fabricators, welders and machine-tooling shops that rely on steel and aluminum as the main or only ingredients for the parts they make to send on to bigger manufacturers.
Together though, they outnumber the nation’s metal producers, many of which have supported the new tariffs, and account for a larger chunk of the U.S. manufacturing workforce.
There were 29,288 steel-consuming firms in the U.S. employing more than 900,000 workers as of the second quarter of 2017, according to the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. That compares with 916 steel producers with a combined workforce of more than 80,000. The data include steel consumers that make products such as springs, vehicle parts and wire, but not major manufacturers such as auto makers.
Many of these metal-consuming suppliers are also big consumers of aluminum. The aluminum-production industry is even smaller than steel, employing about 60,000 people at some 600 firms.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
I am not convinced one way or the other. I can state that a few years ago a new citizen engineer friend that worked for a very large US company was steel shopping. He said he needed 20 ton or 20 ton per unit of very high quality steel for a project and he was disgusted he could not find it in the US. I think he said he had to buy it from China.
He said he felt that America had no manufacturing base—and it was just as hollow spiritually.
This will all balance out in the end.
True the tax brakes will cover it.
“You don’t help American manufacturing by raising the prices of key inputs like steel aluminum. “
You don’t help American manufacturing by sending American mining, steel, aluminum, and other manufacturing consumer industries overseas, you moron!
“The cost of the material is very minor compared to the cost of the labor, overhead and taxes. Even for a plane; it is the labor and not the materials.”
Just to add to what you’re saying, the cost of a new jet liner, like a 737, comes out to just under $1000 per pound of dry weight. So increase the price of aluminum by 20 cents per pound and it’s difficult to see how it’s going to crash aircraft sales. Heck, one flight line mechanic calling in sick for one day probably has more impact to the cost of the plane.
“Pig iron is dirt cheap even after a 25% tariff.”
The OP just HATES America and seeks her destruction. These liberals want nothing good for America.
“At $300/ton for steel that works out to $390.00 per car. So slap a 25% tariff on it. That increases the steel price by $97.50. THAT IS NOT SOARING!!!
“
Worth repeating. Liberals love their emotions and never give any facts.
“Steel accounts for 60% of his product costs”
She’s a typical liberal liar. The raw material of a car is 65% billet steel, which is $300/ton today.
As central_va pointed out: “At $300/ton for steel that works out to $390.00 per car. So slap a 25% tariff on it. That increases the steel price by $97.50.”
The cost of labor to turn that steel billet into a car, as you mentioned, is a far higher cost.
” A New Car Will Cost You at Least $3,800 Extra Because of Government Regulation. “
LOL - remove ONE AIRBAG, maybe a useless side-curtain one, and the added cost of steel is more than offset.
Your post rearranged.
“Yea, the tariffs will raise the cost of a Boeing 777 about $25,000, lots of hoopla about nothing.”
THAT DOES IT! I’m not buying any more 777s! It’s Airbus for me. /s
Women and children welders and axle makers to
be hardest hit.
Yup, on a 320 million dollar aircraft, $25K isn’t much.
We import about 25% of our steel. We import about 25% of our oil. Bring on the oil tariffs in the name of national security.
My business relies on sheet aluminum products. I could save maybe 5% by purchasing the ‘cheap’ Chinese-made crap that some suppliers carry, but I choose to buy American, because the quality of the goods is much, much better.
My customers appreciate it, I’m more confident in extending my warranty, and I know I’m helping to keep American jobs at home.
MAGA!
You mean like Toyotas’ engines and transmissions? Made right here in USA
First time you’ll ever see the WSJ worry about the American working class.
“Perot made that argument during the NAFTA debate. He also said if large US farms put the small scale Mexican farmers out of business that many of them would head north and enter the US illegally to find work.”
And that is exactly what happened. Saw it firsthand in SoCal.
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