Missouri losing jobs thanks to con artist

[someoneyouknow]

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 company is the largest nail manufacturer in the U.S. and employs hundreds of people in Poplar Bluff. It is owned by Deacaro, a Mexico-headquartered firm which ships steel from its mills in Mexico into the U.S. for a variety of finished products. The administration's steel tariffs add a 25 percent penalty to the raw material.

"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.

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

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/factory-workers-lose-jobs-as-steel-tariffs-put-business-in-crisis-mode/

 

[someoneyouknow]

As a follow up, it appears the original article slightly underplayed how dire the company situation is.

The company is in danger of shutting production by Labor Day unless the Commerce Department grants it an exclusion from paying the tariffs, company spokesman James Glassman told CNN's Poppy Harlow.

Mid-Continent Nail is "on the brink of extinction," he said.​

Glassman called President Donald Trump's trade policy misguided. He noted that the company had doubled its work force since 2013, and thrived despite increased competition from China.

The area of Missouri where the plant is located voted 80% for President Trump. Glassman said he can't say whether people in town are still supporting the president.

"They are scared, they are worried about their families. It's not like there are tons of other manufacturing jobs," he said. "If I were a Mid-Continent worker, I would be extremely unhappy with what this administration is doing."

http://money.cnn.com/2018/06/26/news/companies/steel-tariffs-job-losses/index.html