JOBS/TARIFFS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “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…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.”
–Ben White and Jenny Ament, “‘We’re the ones it’s going to hurt’: Trump tariffs fuel angst in Trump country,” Politico, August 22, 2018 5:14 am