Manufacturers Scramble Under Trump’s Looming Tariffs
‘It’s a Race to the Border’
Trucks cross the Peace Bridge at the Canada-U.S. border in Fort Erie, Ontario, on Feb. 3. (Cole Burston/Bloomberg)
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Over a frantic 72 hours, President Donald Trump’s threat of punishing new tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China sent stocks and currencies tumbling and shock waves through world trade.
It also sent manufacturing businesses scrambling for cover.
A North Carolina-based maker of concrete equipment rushed to get its machines onto trucks bound for Canada. The CEO of the world’s biggest producer of embroidered patches had to swap a family dinner for a conference call with executives. A trade lawyer in Ohio was emailing his manufacturing clients after midnight on Feb.3.
While Trump campaigned hard on the promise of new tariffs, the pace of developments in recent days has rattled producers and forced them to game out ways to protect their operations. Even after the president put a one-month hold on the Mexico and Canada duties on Feb. 3, executives are still very much on watch for additional tariffs.
It’s a race to the border.
Stephen Bullock, Power Curbers
One of those caught in the middle is Stephen Bullock, president of Salisbury, N.C.-based Power Curbers that makes concrete-paving equipment used for roads and highwa…
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