Was “idled”; now announced it will be permanently closed in January. Was a producer of stick rail and also owned the Steelton and Highspire railroad that served the plant.
Yeah, Cliffs isn’t doing so well right now. They also closed the blast furnace at the Dearborn Works (ex Ford) and a couple more smaller mills, one in PA and another in IL. The domestic steel market is very soft right now.
The old Alan wood mill. They owned the upper Marion and Plymouth rr.
If steel market soft, it may be time for the class 1s and others to stock up with rail for future rpojects.
The one mill they closed (Steelton), was a rail mill. I think there are only two others–Steel Dynamics in Indiana and the old CF&I in Pueblo, Colorado.
I thought the purpose of the tariffs was to increase US based production??
Steel mills are a multiyear capital investment. With constantly changing tariffs, corporations must not think the investment is fiscally responsible. There are just a limited number of BFs left, and environmental regulations make new ones nonviable. DRI (Direct Reduction Iron) and HBI (Hot Briquetted Iron) are newer technology that seem to be viable.
Oh man, no you’ve gone and made me Google some processes, lol
Depends on your understanding of how tariffs actually work and who pays them and when.
S&P Global has stated that the consumer buying the product ultimately pays.
I know that, you know that - someone doesn’t.
Referring to me?
In your dreams, not in reality.
He’s referring to people in government.
Yes in reality we the consumers are paying for the tariffs. However the added costs of doing business in those countries that do have tariffs on their good we import isn’t something that companies can ignore forever. Let’s look at Lionel for example they’re rapidly moving production out of China into countries without the tariffs on their goods.
Chrysler is not just bring one manufacturing line to Illinois it’s 2 the Jeep Compass and the new Ram Dakota. The Compass for the US and NA market was built in Italy currently. To move it here is huge. Plus the UAW was also told the next generation Cherokee is going to Belvedere also. Belvedere before employed 1500 workers they’re announcing 3300 in the next 3 years needed. That’s just at the plant each 1 of those UAW jobs will support 5 other jobs in the area. Thats almost 20k people. All work brought back to the USA thanks to tariffs.
One problem is the President doesn’t actually have the power to put tariffs into effect. Tariffs have to be put into place by Congress. Trump is attempting to put in tariffs by using a law that gives the President extended powers in an emergency, like when the US is under military attack.
Congress can vote to revoke any ‘emergency’ proclamation like the tariffs 30 days after they’re put in place. However, Speaker Johnson has used a parliamentary maneuver to say that all the time from April to October is just one ‘legislative’ day, thereby delaying the vote on whether to rescind the tariffs (and other actions).
Given all that, I find it hard to believe that companies are going to go out of their way to change what they are doing now to spend billions of dollars to build new factories, hire new employees, etc. when it’s quite likely the tariffs could be gone before the end of the year. But we’ll see.
I read compass and Cherokee.
If the Dakota does come here (big if), last I saw it was supposed to be built at the Toledo plant.
Thanks to tariffs. If people can afford to buy anything. Hard to fathom paying a tariff on a stellantis anything.
I know you know! ![]()
And, those jeeps will now cost more, perhaps double, because of union wage agreements. Which will make food and other goods cost more in order to negate the higher wages necessary to manufacture them. THAT is trickle down economics. Everything gets more difficult for those at the bottom of the economic pyramid so everything can get better for those at the top. No. NK
Union wage workers are at the top of no pyramid.
And wages are probably not too far off from what is being paid in Italy or Canada or wherever they made that crappy rental car suv.