Posted on 12/03/2016 6:53:34 AM PST by mandaladon
Donald Trump took aim Friday at a second U.S. manufacturer that plans to move jobs from Indiana to Mexico, a day after he threatened consequences for business that shifted American jobs abroad.
“Rexnord of Indiana is moving to Mexico and rather viciously firing all of its 300 workers,” Mr. Trump wrote at 10:06 p.m. on Twitter. “This is happening all over our country. No more!”
Rexnord, which is based in Milwaukee, intends to move production of industrial bearings from Indianapolis to Monterrey, Mexico, according to the employee union. The move, expected by the middle of next year, would eliminate about 300 jobs.
The company, which didn’t respond to requests for comment on Thursday, couldn’t immediately be reached late Friday. Shares of Rexnord have tumbled more than 10% from Wednesday’s close.
After criticizing Carrier during his campaign, Mr. Trump on Thursday celebrated a deal with the air conditioner and furnace maker that will keep about 800 jobs in Indiana in exchange for $7 million in tax breaks. Carrier, a unit of United Technologies Corp., still plans to shift 1,300 jobs from Indiana to Mexico.
Chuck Jones, president of United Steelworkers local that represents Indianapolis workers at both Carrier and Rexnord, said Friday he was grateful for President-elect Trump’s intervention but he isn’t optimistic other companies will shelve plans to move manufacturing abroad, even if they are offered state or federal incentives.
“There’s not enough taxpayer money to reward companies not to leave the country when we’re competing with $3-an-hour wages in Mexico,” said Mr. Jones. He said Rexnord appears determined to leave and the union is negotiating over severance benefits.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Unless Rexnord has federal contracts, the way United Tech does, this will prove to be a more thorough test for Trump.
Hope it works out, and I give Trump credit for standing in the batter’s box and swinging. He’s done more as president-elect than his three predecessors did in 24 years. I’d like to see the smart guys move out of the corporate finance functions and back into production and thinking about process. Reestablishing a manufacturing base is going to take a lot of time and effort, and I can see how the domestic labor market and defense sectors need it, but the trial by fire will be whether the corporate purchasing market responds favorably. If by some means it happens and they can even export, Trump will silence a generation of critics.
Yep. And like the a/c coils that Carrier will still take to Mexico, they are components sold to OEMs or used to build bigger systems, which inherently are more price-sensitive. The gas furnaces that will stay in Indy are somewhat less so.
Also, consider that most air conditioners (and many things that use industrial bearings) are already being built in Mexico, thus being close to their customers is an advantage for suppliers. How many gas furnaces are sold for use in Mexico?
Point being, the economics of different products are always going to be different and rather than bitch about Trump not keeping 100% of the Carrier jobs here, people should be grateful someone intervened and managed to reverse the decision that was based on the less-favorable economics.
Steel Dynamics mill in Fort Wayne , IN is what you want. America needs an will get under Trump more 21st century, mill mines, and factories.
A hotel is not a plant. A hotel has to be physically located where it is used. By building hotels overseas those profits come back to the US. Trump hotels are good.
Regardless - we cannot mandate that companies cannot move overseas - that kind of socialist distortion never works. What we can do is create a reasonably competitive tax and regulatory paradigm that will keep businesses here.
there is a 100 year old casket manufacturer in Mississippi (Batesville Casket Company,) that is moving to Mexico too.
Let’s boycott them and don’t die!
So Trump isn't done. And we will need to apply tariffs to companies like Carrier and Rexnord. And we will need to insist that government purchases buy US-made products. If you want an advantage in the bidding process, show that your product has higher US content than your competitor's.
Add a tarrif for any company leaving the US to import goods back into the US. Problem solved.
Hotels and resorts are built where people need and want to travel for business or pleasure
Building hotels in Hammond Indiana or Bayonne NJ is just not a solution over building them in vacation spots
Trump’s business is Trumps business
The environmentalists have made that virtually impossible
Once again, we need a fundamental re-thinking of “Free Trade Reaganism.” That works under two very critical conditions.
First, the US can and will force open ALL markets to genuine free trade. This hasn’t happened in the last 20 years. Japan is the classic example: American beef ranchers cannot ship anything into Japan. I have a Libertarian friend in the electric pump business (big water pumps). He said “I believe in free trade, but there is no free trade anywhere.” He has to go through one regulatory hoop after another to “freely” trade in foreign countries. When Britain was fully engaged in “free trade” in the 1800s, her navy was the biggest, most powerful in the world and would at gun point open ports.
In the Ike years, yes, we had “free trade” but only because every other major nation in the world was flattened or broke. We DOMINATED both world trade and manufacturing because we were the only ones with stuff to sell and the ability to buy.
The second factor is national defense. You cannot allow your defense infrastructure to go away. This company is a case of ball bearings manufacturing: how many of those do you allow to go overseas or to Mexico? You need steel, electronics, computers, basic manufacturing here.
So the “free trade Reaganism” has not existed for a long time, and I think even Reagan would disavow it.
If a US company moves production offshore but keeps their HQ here it has no effect on their tax rate
If the company is based in the US the profit, which is what is taxed, will be taxed at the US rate regardless of where the production facilities are.
They make ball bearings. All Trump needs to do is prohibit any military subcontractor from using any ball bearings made by Rexnord in any equipment used by the military or other federal agencies. Also he should ensure that any military contract use American manufactured parts and services unless those parts and services cannot be procured through an American Company.
I’ve been prohibited via specs from using Mexican rebar in recent rears due to the steel itself failing strength tests.
We now won’t use Mexican Steel in any job.
Why Monterrey? What incentives are particularly there that Carrier was building a plant there. We are in Mexico right now and people are fleeing that drug cartel infested state. Are the drug king pins and their political cronies working with US companies?
In WWII one off Churchill's strategic directive was for priority in bombing ball bearing factories.
Yeah, Mr. Jones? Well maybe if you didn't force Rexnord to pay 25 dollars an hour for a job that would pay 10 or 15 dollars an hour they wouldn't even have to think of moving to Mexico.
BTW, how much do you make an hour Mr. Jones?
Who have (has?) Unions been supporting for the last 30, 40, 50 years?
Bless predid Ng atrump. In the long run I’m confident he will secure reform of our trade and tax policies so that they no longer propel, reward the export of our jobs. Right now all he can do is “jawbone on an individual basis. And -— bless him — he’s doing it for us! Thank you DJT!
Indeed. I’ve several people I’d like to give industrial bearings to for Christmas, too. A great idea for the aholes particularly. Thanks for the good idea /s
I’m in my swanky Tulum , MX rental condo right now and staring up at my air conditioner. It’s a Freyven. Almost all the places we have traveled this year have room air conditioners and not whole house ones. They are noisy and inefficient ( you need several positioned in a kitchen/ great room configuration). I have yet to rent a house that has whole house air conditioning.
God bless the man who invented air conditioning, which I frequently call “blessed air conditioning” but I think that an ingenious and inspired American inventor can come up with something that is better made and made in the USA.
Freedom induces creativity, that is why we have always been the world’s leader in advancing modernity.
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