Kathmandu. The sweltering US summer has seen a surge in demand for metal containers decorated with snowmen and sleds, but the industries and firms that make them are facing a shortage of the steel needed to make the containers due to President Donald Trump’s steep steel tariffs.
“I’m determined to keep my tin can manufacturing company alive for generations to come, but Trump’s tax hikes are making that task more difficult,” said Rick Huether, CEO of Independent Can Factory in Bellcamp, Maryland, northeast of Baltimore, recounting how he started working in his family business at the age of 14. “We are living in a time of turmoil,” he told AFP.
After Trump took office in January, he imposed a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and aluminum. This has affected Independent Can’s operations. Huether said the company has stopped buying new products after the price of steel used to make cans rose sharply.
The company said it had no choice but to adjust the price of cans and send them to market due to the new tax policy. Steel plate shortage Huether’s factory uses tin-coated sheets to make containers for the safe storage of everyday foods like cookies, dried fruit, coffee and powdered milk.
For a company like his, American-made tinplate is not enough. “We can only get 25 percent of our tinplate from the United States to make tin cans,” he said. “We need to buy 70 percent of our steel from our neighbors.” While Huether is a proponent of expanding the U.S. manufacturing base, he worries that globalization has become so widespread that Trump’s policies will exacerbate shortages.
Trump has announced a series of major tariffs. Some of them, the administration has imposed tariffs on items that some countries do not produce and must import from abroad to pressure them into trade talks. The Independent Cannery, which currently employs about 400 people directly at four different manufacturing sites, said it is unlikely to reduce production despite the current turmoil, but rather needs to increase production as demand increases.
Huether said one of the company’s plants in Iowa was partially shut down last year due to the steel tax hikes imposed during Trump’s first term. Price hikes “If the president imposes the 50 percent steel tax that he has announced, his industry will ultimately have to increase prices by more than 20 percent because tinplate represents a portion of its production costs,” Huether said. He said some buyers have already cut their orders by 20 to 25 percent this year due to concerns about the economy and a lack of business.
“Now Americans seem willing to buy American goods, but shortages are making it difficult to meet demand,” said Huether, citing his own experience during the COVID-19 crisis. “During the pandemic, when imports from China were halted and ports were closed, our business grew by 50 percent, but we were unable to meet demand due to a lack of raw materials. When the pandemic ended, customers started buying from China.” “Today, if people want to come to us, we will try to meet their demand. For this, we need to have at least a two-year contract,” he said.
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