Chris Pratt, operations general manager at Missouri-based Mid Continent Nail Corporation, discussed Section 232 tariffs and the resulting layoffs at the company with NPR’s Korva Coleman over the weekend.
According to the interview, Mid Continent’s sales dropped by half in the two weeks following the Trump Administration’s application of widespread steel tariffs on June 1; over 100 workers were laid off as a result.
Pratt said Mid Continent tried to pass on the 25 percent import tariff on imported steel used to make nails onto customers, which affected sales because the tariffs do not apply to finished steel nails. Additionally, the company has had to contend with domestic steel prices increases by 30 percent.
When Coleman asked Pratt why US domestic steel producers increased prices, Pratt said “because they can.”
When import supply was eliminated, Pratt said, “that just gave them the ability to raise their price 25 percent, and they capitalized on it and raised it even more.”
Pratt said that while some tariffs can have a positive effect on the US economy, the current Section 232 tariff on steel imports “is a misguided policy.” Pratt said the tariffs help the big steel companies, but the higher prices will have a negative effect on downstream manufacturing jobs.
Mid Continent is currently seeking exclusions to the tariffs, and Pratt urged Donald Trump to approve their application because it will be hard for the laid-off workers to find new jobs in the area, where the population is about 17,000 people. Mid Continent is the second-largest employer in the area, Pratt said, employing over 500 people at one time.