Trump tariffs will lift working families
We’re already seeing results in Ashland, Ky.
No president has done more to defend the American manufacturing base from unfair trade practices than Donald J. Trump. What may surprise even his critics is that no president — since Lyndon B. Johnson declared a “war on poverty” — has done more to lift the prospects of low- and moderate-income families than President Trump.
A poster child for the success of President Trump’s tax, trade and worker-training policies in lifting the spirits — and incomes! — of American workers will be a new aluminum mill. This new aluminum mill will be built in Ashland, Ky., in the midst and mists of Appalachia’s rugged mountains, in one of our nation’s most poverty-stricken areas.
Ashland is located off Route 60, on the banks of the Ohio River, bordering West Virginia and Ohio. It was once a booming steel, oil and coal town until the steel mills in the area started closing down, Ashland Oil moved its headquarters to the Cincinnati region, and the coal mines began to shutter.
Today, Boyd County suffers from a declining population and a debilitating opioid epidemic. But help — not just false hope — is on the way.
The new $1.5 billion aluminum rolling mill that will soon be built — with a groundbreaking today — will cover 45 acres. This state-of-the art mill will create up to 1,800 construction jobs and about 500 permanent positions in a county with an unemployment rate almost 40% higher than the nation’s.
The starting salary at this plant will be $65,000 a year. This compares with a median household income in Boyd County of $44,140, well below the national median of $59,039.
To ensure that local working men and women will be equipped to take advantage of these opportunities, the plant operator has teamed with Ashland Community and Technical College to develop programs to train workers right out of high school. Such programs are consistent with Trump’s longtime advocacy of trade schools, apprenticeships and workforce development.
The plant’s builders credit Trump’s aluminum tariffs and tax cuts as essen- tial ingredients to their future growth and prosperity. The Trump aluminum tariffs will provide this mill and the broader U.S. aluminum industry a stout defense against massive governmentsubsidized and supported overcapacity in the global marketplace and the resulting surges of aluminum imports into the United States from a range of countries — and serve the broader national defense in the process.
The president’s tax bill likewise provides two strong incentives to this critical investment in America’s manufacturing and defense industrial base. The additional cash flow generated from the president’s tax cut helps provide the investment capital. Investors can also take advantage of the Trump tax law’s “Opportunity Zone” provision designed to encourage investments in economically depressed areas.
This new aluminum plant is not the only example of how Trump’s tariffs and tax policies are strengthening our manufacturing and defense industrial base. Following the imposition of tariffs, U.S. Steel announced it would restart its steel-making facilities and one blast furnace at an Illinois plant. Century Aluminum announced a nearly
$120 million investment to expand and modernize a smelter in nearby Hawesville, Ky., that had its production decreased to 40% of capacity since 2015. Alcoa will reopen an idle smelter in Indiana. Steelmakers Nucor and Commercial Metals will build new mills in Missouri and Oklahoma, respectively.
Trump has also provided relief to the U.S. washing machine and solar industry by imposing steep tariffs. Critics warned the move would hurt consumers, but tariffs have been a boon to workers. Whirlpool said it would add
200 jobs at its Ohio plant after the decision, the South Korean manufacturer Samsung opened its first plant in South Carolina, and LG Electronics broke ground on a 310-acre site in Tennessee.
There can be no better way to make American manufacturing great again than to start to rebuild those communities most harmed by the forces of globalization. These new facilities will stand as testimony to the success of tough trade actions, smart tax policies and worker-training programs.