After fire, company fits out new plant
On any given day at front doors, industrial loading docks and package sorting facilities across the country millions of shipping boxes are strapped tight with logoemblazoned tape that Eric Rothstein’s company has produced for two decades in Bethel.
If a big number, the more astonishing factoid is this: Adhesive Tape Printers was able to rig together an ongoing supply to its customers despite its Bethel facility being razed by a blaze that triggered among the biggest responses by firefighters of any industrial fire in Connecticut the past 40 years.
After a scramble to find a new factory for
ATP, Rothstein landed one on Finance Drive in Danbury, which he is showcasing for members of the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce on Friday morning.
ATP is sharing the building with the similar
closed at new highs in the wake of the encouraging report from Beijing but shed some of their earlier gains after reports emerged of dissension within the White House over the idea of lifting tariffs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 182 points to a record 27,675.
Governments of the two biggest global economies have raised tariffs on billions of dollars of each other’s goods in the fight over China’s trade surplus and technology ambitions. That weighs on trade worldwide and threatens to depress corporate earnings and global economic growth, which is already showing signs of slowing.
The Oct. 12 agreement was modest, and details have yet to be put on paper, but it was welcomed as a sign of progress toward ending the trade war.
Lovely said that the agreement would help U.S. farmers and manufacturers — constituencies important to Trump in the 2020 election.
“It makes a lot of sense politically and economically for the president to say this is enough,” she said.
U.S. business groups largely praised the outline of the pact, saying that it would make progress in opening up China’s market to foreign investment and to U.S. financial services companies.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” said Jake Parker, senior vice president of the U.S.China Business Council. “It also builds momentum to tackle all the more difficult issues.”
The trade war has taken a toll on the U.S. economy. The Port of Los Angeles said Thursday that last month it handled 20 percent less cargo than the same month a year earlier. Exports have fallen for 12 straight months.
Businesses have cut back on their spending on industrial machinery and other equipment amid the uncertainty created by the trade war. Those cutbacks have hurt U.S. factories and slowed annual growth to 1.9 percent in the JulySeptember quarter from 3.1 percent in the first three months of the year.
Trump agreed to postpone a planned tariff hike while lowerlevel officials hammered out details.
Trump said China agreed to buy up to $50 billion of American farm goods. Beijing has yet to confirm the scale of its commitment.
China’s imports of American soybeans and other goods tumbled 26.4 percent in the first nine months of this year following tariff hikes and orders to importers to find other suppliers.
The Oct. 12 agreement helped to ease financial market jitters, but the two sides have yet to report progress on major disagreements over technology and other irritants following 13 rounds of talks.
Trump and Xi were due to meet at this month’s gathering of AsiaPacific leaders in Chile but that event was canceled due to protests there.
That dampened hopes a facetoface meeting might produce progress. But U.S. officials say the two governments are looking for a different location.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said this week any “Phase 1” agreement would be general and cover trade in specific areas such as soybeans and liquefied natural gas.
More complicated issues would be tackled in later negotiations, Ross said. He gave no indication whether rolling back tariffs was a possibility at this stage.