If America fails to adequately address China’s massive industrial overcapacity, American manufacturing may face a final stand. Don’t just take our word for it, listen to factory workers on the front lines.
Announced by the Federation of American Manufacturing New report on Friday They called for stronger policy measures to counter China’s massive, unchecked excess capacity, warning that failure to do so would lead to catastrophic job and production losses in the United States.
But we also know that sometimes it’s not enough to just listen to ourselves — sometimes it’s easier to make sense of things when we listen to the people whose lives are most affected by what’s happening.
Therefore, as part of the report, Shock Waves: The ripple effects of China’s over-industrialization on American manufacturing and factory workersWe also spoke to people who work in industries like steel, paper, and tires, who have seen the damage caused by the import surge firsthand. Several of them are featured in our report, and we’ll have more stories to share on our blog in the coming weeks.
First up is Kamin Thompson, who spoke with Jeff Boniol about how Chinese overcapacity has affected the Cleveland-Cliffs Conshohocken Steel Works in Pennsylvania.
Kamin Thompson worked at the Cleveland-Cliffs Conshohocken Steel Works for 19 years, making lightweight armor for the military. He was president of United Steelworkers Local 9462 and was laid off from the company in 2010-2011 and again in 2018 at the plant.
Thompson was working as a crane operator when he was laid off along with more than 100 other employees in 2010. “The layoff lasted almost two years and at the time I didn’t know if I was going to get a job again,” he said. “Orders weren’t coming in like the previous months and things were really bleak and stagnant. It was really hard.”
Thompson still wonders why the Conshohocken steel mill has experienced layoffs and reduced full-time employment, since steel is produced for the U.S. military.
“When you get a job here, you think it’s a lifetime job because our military and government have always had an edge,” Thompson said. “But there have been two layoffs in the last 15 years.”
“You’re manufacturing steel for the U.S. government, fabricating steel for national security, for the MRAPs, for tanks, for ships, for submarines, and then all of a sudden you get a layoff notice. It’s really confusing and weird.”
Thompson believes President Biden made the right decision by increasing tariffs on steel imports, but he has concerns about the review process.
“There should not be a tariff review or a fight,” he said. “I think tariffs should always be automatic. It should be a national responsibility, not a presidential responsibility, to make sure we don’t have excess capacity.”
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