CRESSONA, Pa. – One Schuylkill County company said it is feeling the new tariffs on aluminum and steel more than most.
We paid a visit to Hydro in Cressona, the largest aluminum extrusion factory in the western hemisphere, that dates back to the 1940’s. Industrial Region General Manager Mike Hammer showed us the raw aluminum that gets brought in by train and turned into extrusions by close to 1,200 workers. But that train isn’t coming from nearby.
“About 85% of the raw material is imported, and it’s pretty much all from Canada,” said Hammer.
The moment that train crosses the border, President Donald Trump’s new 25% tariff on aluminum and steel takes effect.
“It gets embedded in our metal price, so we pass that along to our customers, and so one of my biggest customers in Israel I lost for the month of March and April,” said Hammer.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that loss is the price we pay for increasing aluminum and steel production here at home.
“The reason why is not to punish those countries, it’s because he has outlined a need to develop a domestic capability. If you don’t have steel and aluminum, you can’t build warships. You can’t build airplanes. Any, you’re not an industrial economy,” said Rubio.
But Hammer worries the U.S. simply doesn’t have the capacity to meet the demand without imports.
“20 years ago, there were about 25 smelters in the U.S. to manufacture the aluminum. Today there’s four active,” said Hammer.
The Premiere of Ontario, Doug Ford, shares that opinion.
“The U.S. only has the capacity of producing 16% of the aluminum they need. Pretty well almost the balance comes, over 60%, comes from Quebec. So costs are going to go up,” said Ford.
The Schuylkill County Chamber of Commerce said it’s planning a forum with lawmakers to make sure they understand the impact of tariffs.
“I’m going to make sure, as leadership of the Chamber with my staff, that we inundate you with these real-life stories so you don’t take them for granted,” said Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce CEO Robert Carl.
Hammer hopes his company can be one of those stories that brings the trade war to an end soon.
“I’m hoping that the parties will sit down and come to an agreement that’s reasonable, and really help us with this situation here,” said Hammer.
Hammer said the steel tariffs affect Hydro as well, because they use steel molds to shape the molten aluminum, but despite those hardships, Hammer told us he does not believe they will have to go through any major layoffs.
