US Steel announced that it will idle its tinplate mill in East Chicago, Illinois, laying off approximately 150 workers and shifting the remainder of the workforce to other facilities. ArcelorMittal also announced it will idle its own tinplate mill in West Virginia, laying off around 100 workers.
“Following extensive market analysis of our global competitiveness in light of high levels of low-priced imported tin mill products entering the United States, we have decided to consolidate our current tin mill products production from three to two facilities, idling our East Chicago, Indiana, facility by mid-November 2019,” US Steel spokeswoman Meghan Cox said in a statement. “Our goal is to place as many East Chicago Tin employees as possible at other nearby US Steel facilities.”
US Steel said it would idle the tinplate plant days after the food production and distribution company Del Monte announced it would close two tin canning plants, citing higher costs from Section 232 steel tariffs and an ongoing decline in canned food sales.
ArcelorMittal spokeswoman Mary Beth Holdford said the idling of ArcelorMittal Weirton will occur in phases, beginning this week, and the layoffs will last indefinitely. “The workforce reductions will be realized across the operation with reduced shifts across most production units,” Holdford said.