ILLINOIS: After Donald Trump was elected president in 2016 on a pledge to “Make America Great Again” and revive the country’s old industrial heartland, Dave Chrusciel hoped someday to return to his previous job at the steel mill here in this southern corner of Illinois. That day has arrived.
Chrusciel, 61, is one of around 500 workers United States Steel Corp is re-hiring or recruiting as it readies for production in mid-June at a blast furnace it idled in 2015.
“I’d been waiting for that phone call asking me to come back for more than two years,” he said.
Chrusciel and Granite City are among the winners as the Trump administration fights a multi-front war to reshape US trade policy.
City officials say the well-paid jobs at the Granite City Works, which traces its roots to the late 19th century, are the heart of this town of 29,000 people.
“These are jobs you can raise a family on,” said Granite City Mayor Ed Hagnauer. “Those are the jobs we’ve seen disappear.”
Trump imposed the tariffs of 25 per cent on steel imports and 10 per cent on aluminium in March.
They are popular in Granite City, but problematic in other communities.
Major US manufacturers as diverse as Caterpillar Inc, Ford Motor Co, Whirlpool Corp, Campbell Soup Coand Harley-Davidson Inc have said rising steel and aluminium prices will have to be passed on to consumers, offset with cost-cutting measures, or hurt profits.
Bill Hickey, chairman of Chicago-based Lapham-Hickey Steel, which has half a dozen US steel processing plants, said he wants to help US steel-makers, but is concerned rising prices will push manufacturers to duck tariffs by purchasing steel parts overseas. “The main beneficiary would be China, which has plenty of surplus steel,” he said.
The tariffs are in effect for some countries, and a temporary exemption for Canada, Mexico and the European Union is supposed to expire on June 1.
Uncertainty over the tariffs’ future has left US steel producers’ shares in limbo.
US Steel shares surged earlier this year but are now up just 1.6 per cent in the year to date. — Reuters
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