Dan Kadrmas’ conversation with Scott Hennen
WASHINGTON – The President of Fargo-based TrueNorth Steel believes President Donald Trump’s tariffs will help level the playing field for his industry.
Dan Kadrmas was one of two board members from the American Institute of Steel Construction at Trump’s speech.
Imported steel and aluminum already facing a 25 percent tariff was excluded from the new tariffs. It covers finished products made with imported steel and aluminum. It does not include steel fabricated in other countries with U.S.-made steel. Last month the president increased and expanded on tariffs he imposed on imported steel and aluminum he began in 2018.
“It’s definitely stronger than it was in the past, so I think it will definitely help overall the steel manufacturers and steel fabricators,” Kadrmas said
Kadrmas believes the tariffs will help long-term, but there’s going to be a lot of uncertainty among businesses and the stock market.
“We’ve outsourced a lot of things and during COVID we learned a lesson in the risk we have with outsourcing,” Kadrmas explained.
Kadrmas says the United States only makes four percent of the world’s steel.
Stellantis is temporarily laying off 900 employees in response to Trump’s tariff announcement. They will impact workers at five of the automaker’s U.S. facilities.
Stellantis also announced it will be pausing production at two of its plants in Canada and Mexico.
In a letter to employees, the company said it’s assessing the medium and long-term effects of the tariffs on operations.
Automakers are now facing a 25 percent import tax.
