U.S. small manufacturers hope to benefit from tariffs, but some worry
about uncertainty
[April 21, 2025] By
MAE ANDERSON
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Drew Greenblatt is fully on board with the Trump
administration’s use of tariffs to rebalance a global trading system
that it says favors foreign companies over U.S. manufacturers.
Greenblatt is the president and owner of Marlin Steel Wire Products in
Baltimore, Maryland, which makes baskets and racks for medical device
manufacturers, aerospace companies, food processing companies and
others. It has 115 employees and makes its products in three locations
in Maryland, Indiana and Michigan. The steel is sourced from Tennessee,
Illinois and Michigan.
Currently, it’s hard to compete with baskets made overseas., Greenblatt
says, because the countries he competes against have an “unfair
advantage.” For example, due to European tariffs and taxes, it costs
much more for a German consumer or company to buy Marlin wire baskets
than it does for Americans to buy a German-made basket, creating an
uneven playing field, Greenblatt said.
“It’s wildly unfair to the American worker,” he said. “And this has, by
the way, been going on for decades.”
What Trump is doing
The Trump administration has called U.S. manufacturing an “economic and
national security” priority. U.S. manufacturing has been declining for
decades. In June 1979, the number of manufacturing workers peaked at
19.6 million. By January of 2025, employment was down 35% to 12.8
million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Small
manufacturers, which make up 99% of all American manufacturing, have
been hit particularly hard.
The administration has implemented some tariffs against major U.S.
trading partners, while putting a hold on other tariffs pending
negotiations. The Trump administration says tariffs will force companies
to have more products made in the U.S. to avoid steep price increases on
their imports, which will mean “better-paying American jobs,” for people
making cars, appliances and other goods.
Greenblatt agrees, saying he could double his staff if “parity” in
tariffs becomes a reality.
Uncertainty for businesses
While other small manufacturing businesses also support the tariffs,
other owners have concerns. The Trump tariffs threaten to upend the
existing economic order and possibly push the global economy into
recession. And the uneven rollout of the policy has created uncertainty
for businesses, financial markets and U.S. households.
For Corry Blanc, the injection of uncertainty around the economy
outstrips any potential benefit.
He started his business, Blanc Creatives in Waynesboro, Virginia, in
2012. He makes handcrafted cookware such as skillets and other
kitchenware and bakeware with American steel and wood and employs 12
staffers. He gets his steel from a plant in South Carolina and a
distributor in Richmond. Wood comes from local regional sawmills near
the company’s headquarters in Waynesboro, Virginia.
He said he’s been fielding worried calls from customers in Canada and
overseas. And he says the infrastructure isn’t in place to increase
production if more people do start buying American-made goods.
[to top of second column] |
Javid Moghaddasnia, Director of Customer Engagement, discusses
American Giant clothing while being interviewed at the company's
showroom in San Francisco, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff
Chiu)
 Blanc said he survived the pandemic
and other tough times, but conditions now are the hardest they’ve
ever been.
“There’s so much uncertainty and not a lot of direction,” he said.
Michael Lyons is the founder of Rogue Industries, a company that
makes wallets and other leather goods in a workshop in Standish,
Maine, with a staff of nine. He uses leather from Maine and the
Midwest. About 80% of his products are made in Maine and 20% are
imported.
He said the uncertainty around the tariffs is outweighing any
potential long-term benefit. A long-time customer from Canada
recently told Lyons that he would no longer be buying from Rogue
Industries because of the friction between the two countries.
“Hopefully this will pass, and he’ll be able to come back,” he said.
“But I did think that was kind of an interesting indicator for him
to reach out.”
Lyons would like to expand his business, but says, “at the time
being, it’s probably going to be, we hold with what we have.”
Hoping for more American-made products
American Giant CEO Bayard Winthrop takes a more positive view. He
founded his clothing company in 2011 after watching the textile
industry go offshore, and seeing a lack of quality, affordable
American-made clothing. He started by selling one sweatshirt, and
now sells a wider range of clothing, mostly direct-to-consumer, but
he also has a contract with Walmart.
He sources cotton from Southeastern states like Georgia, Florida and
North Carolina and has a factory in North Carolina and a joint
partnership facility in Los Angeles.
“People forget that in about 1985 that all the clothing that
Americans bought was made in America,” he said. “It is only in the
last 40 years that that we really pursued as a country a very
aggressive approach to globalization.”
In 1991, more than half of U.S. apparel, about 56%, was made in the
U.S., according to statistics from the American Apparel and Footwear
Association. By 2023 that number had shrunk to less than 4%.
Winthrop hopes the tariffs will bring about a return to more
American-made products.
“The imbalances between our trading, in particularly with China,
particularly the textiles, it’s just shocking, to be honest with
you,” he said, adding that he hopes Trump's policies "put domestic
manufacturers on a bit more of a competitive footing.”
Winthrop understands people’s concerns but said it’s important to
think longer term.
“Americans are worried about tariffs, and I think there’s a lot of
justification for the worry because I think the administration can
be volatile and unpredictable,” he said. But he added that people
should put that aside.
“The idea that we’re going to be more protective of our domestic
marketplace and have an industrial policy that includes
manufacturing jobs is, an old idea. It’s not a new idea,” he said.
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