Trump’s tariff blueprint could transform America’s industrial base or harm the poorest states | US News

On the banks of the Ohio River in a rural corner of one of America’s poorest states, two factories, one next to the other.

One is open. The other one is closed. Both cut the heart of what Donald Trump Hope he can do to transform America’s industrial base.

Ravenswood, West -Virginiais a town built on aluminum. Since the 1950s, the Wonder Metal has kept this place on the map.

Once, the metal itself was produced here. A massive melting plant dominated the skyline, and inside, large ovens, which transform American aluminum ore (alumina) into the metal we recognize.

The newly melted metal was then sent by river, trace and road to other factories pushed across the country to turn to the sheet and flush for the cars, aircraft, trucks and so much more.

Kaiser -Aluminum closed his smelters in 2009. The plant is now idle. Fence surrounds it; Grass hides the entrance partially, where hundreds of workers would once have passed.

Two hundred meters from the road there is a different story.

Constellium Ravenswood is one of the world’s largest factories of its kind.

With more than a thousand employees, it produces plate, skin and rolled-up aluminum for many industries: air, defense, transport, marine and more.

The products are specially designed for customers, including Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Nasa.

But here’s the problem. The constellium plant uses aluminum now obtained from abroad. America’s primary aluminum production has fallen from a cliff over the past few decades.

The Kaiser plant next door that the metal could have provided for his neighbor to process and press was the victim of cheap foreign competition and high energy costs.

Melting of aluminum needs large amounts of constant energy. If the smelters are ever turned off, the metal will solidify and destroy the facility.

In 2023, the annual rate of US primary aluminum production fell by 21.4% on the previous year, according to the Aluminum Association.

However, the Canadian Aluminum Association predicted that their annual production would rise by 6.12% in 2024 compared to the previous year.

The story is clear – this industry, as so much in America, is in a sharp decline. Competition and high production and energy costs have a major impact.

The danger ahead is that secondary aluminum production in America can do the way of primary production: Business in the supply chain can also choose to buy their plates and coils from abroad.

The answer, says President Trump, is rates. And the CEO of Constellium agrees with him.

“We believe in free and fair trade,” Jean-Marc Germain tells Sky News of the company’s corporate headquarters in Baltimore. “And the point is that the trade was free but not fair.”

“There was a great growth in the capacity installed in China. Kudos to the Chinese people, it is admirable, but much of it is allowed by illegal subsidies. What that means is that the trading of aluminum products is broken as an international system. And I think the rates are a way to address some of the very unforeseen playing fields.

Mr Germain says the tariff plan will restore the market. He assumes that blanket rates are a blunt and risky tool, but cut out the bypass by one country to another.

“Obviously, this process causes some collateral damage. It is clear that not all countries and not all products are traded unfairly. But because of the large size of China and the history of Chinese production going to the US through certain countries … a blunt approach is needed,” he says.

The White House 25% tariff Steel and aluminum plan is worldwide and causes great anxiety.

According to experts, a long -term domestic rebalancing that revives the US industrial sector will last for many years and not be guaranteed.

But increasing the status quo and disrupting established supply chains is risking the risk of significant short and medium-term disruption, both at source and destination.

The foreign aluminum arriving at Ravenswood’s Constellium plant will now cost 25% more – an increase in the price that Mr. Germain says his firm can pull out to reach the rebalancing in the longer term.

“I’m not going to say that an increase in cost is a good thing for customers. But I think it’s important to look at things and put it in relationship … ‘he says.

👉 Follow Trump 100 on your Podcast -App 👈

The relationship is not a luxury that everyone can afford. 250 miles to the East, in Washington DC and just four miles of the Frenetic policy decisions in the White House, the right real brewing business is a dream realized for Thor Cheston.

Thor shows me around his small warehouse -based business that is clearly thriving.

He takes me to the grain silos around the back. The grain is from Canada.

Thor relies on an international supply chain – the cans are aluminum and also of Canada. Some of the malt is from Germany and from Britain.

It is a complicated global manufacturing web to make American beer. Margins are tight.

Read more:
What are the rates of Donald Trump and how does it affect the UK?
Starmer: ‘Everything is on the table over our rates’

“We don’t have the luxury of just raising our prices. We are in a competitive landscape,” says Thor. Competition with large breweries, which can make increased costs easier.

The cans are likely to rise on its next order in the price. He does not yet know how much of the 25% will be communicated to him by his supplier.

“We’ve had big problems like this before. We had to turn a lot. We survived the global pandemic. We’ve done it before, but we don’t want to. We just need a break. ‘

What about the government’s argument to buy ‘American’?

“It’s not as simple as that,” Thor says.

Back in Western Virginia snakes past the Ravenswood factories.

It still carries the remains of America’s heavy industry. A large vessel full of coal passed as I talked to the residents in the nearby city of Parkersburg, a pleasant place, but not the booming industrial community that once was.

“We had a very nice aluminum plant right next to the river earlier and it closed,” one resident reflects in a passing conversation.

Here you can see why a lot of the dice rolled for Trump.

“In Western Virginia we are big on coal,” says Sam Cumpstone.

He works in the railways to transport coal. The industry has been economic devastation in the late yet, the closure of hundreds of mines causing great unemployment.

Sam is clear about who he blames: “Obama has closed mine and made ghost towns in West Virginia. It ruined many people’s lives.”

Here is recognition that Trump’s greasy economic plans are causing prices to rise, at least in the short term. But for Trump voter Kathy Marcum, the pain would be worth it.

“He puts rates on other countries that bring them in well, and that way it is equal. It must be even as far as I’m concerned … he’s a smart businessman. He knows what he’s talking about.

“It may be rough for a while, but in the long run I think it will be best for the country.”

Communities have been abandoned over generations – either by politicians or by inevitable globalization. Here is still deep skepticism.

“No politician worth millions or billions of dollars care about me or you. No one,” Sam says at the end of our conversation.

The Trump tariff blue pressure is full in danger. If it fails, it will be places like West Virginia, it will be hit hardest again.