Posted on 04/09/2025 6:46:14 AM PDT by karpov
Roofing-products manufacturer IKO North America has been on a factory-building spree in the U.S., with one plant completed and four more under construction. After President Trump launched a barrage of tariffs on U.S. trading partners, the math abruptly changed.
Chief Executive David Koschitzky said IKO’s just-finished factory in Texas now faces higher prices on the steel it uses to fabricate metal shingles, while the plants that are still being built need machinery that isn’t made in the U.S. The company will continue with the projects, he said, but tariffs will make them much more expensive.
“If we’re to be successful, that’s a cost that’s going to be passed on to the consumer,” Koschitzky said.
Trump’s tariff announcement threw a wrench into factory builders’ plans—and complicates a yearslong government effort to reinvigorate U.S. manufacturing. Companies are double-checking the numbers on planned factories, or halting them altogether.
Tariff-swollen building costs helped to kill a $300 million plastics recycling plant in Erie, Pa., that had been in the works for four years. International Recycling Group, helmed by CEO Mitch Hecht, said Thursday it was canceling the factory partly because new duties on material and imported machinery had created “expectations of substantially higher project development costs than anticipated.”
The company said the plant, which had been expected to generate 200 jobs, was also hampered by delays in securing a $182 million loan guarantee the federal government conditionally granted last year.
The past three years have seen an explosion of U.S. factory investment, driven in part by billions of dollars in Biden administration subsidies for manufacturers supporting the semiconductor and electric-vehicle industries as well as renewable-energy projects. Companies have also sought to shorten supply chains that became strained during the Covid-19 pandemic.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Tariffs will hurt U.S. manufacturing by driving up input costs.
Give it a rest, rising costs will drive manufactures to build in the USA, not force ones to never build in the USA again.
WSJ and You are not credible sources. Honestly your shilling for the globalist America hating elite portfolios is getting old.
The medicine tastes bitter, but the cure will be worth it.
>>while the plants that are still being built need machinery that isn’t made in the U.S.
Sounds like a business opportunity...
I love that you, personally, are being bankrupted.
Part of the MSM full court press, SURGING COSTS!!!!
If steel prices are up, that’s a greater incentive for more of it to be produced here.
WSJ + Karpov = gloBULList BS.
I will never use IKO roofing. I have installed over 1200 roofs and they are by far the worst I have ever used.
About 20 years ago the shingles they were sending out had a unusable factor of 20-25%. Absolute garbage. I contacted them and they said they knew and offered a $5 per square one time credit.
I turned down the credit and switched about 25 builders over to a different brand. There is nothing worse than getting 2000 pounds of shingles off a roof and then getting 2000 pounds back up there not knowing if the replacement shingles are any good. Took to much time from productive work to fix a problem they intentionally sent out to the customer.
I don’t work with companies like this that are unethical and push their problems out to the customer.
ya !!!
cuz america doesnt have any natural or labor resources
no coal
no oil
no gas
no minerals
no wood
no metals
no laborers no tech ...
...wait....
Which makes me wonder just how hard is to make a decent stack of shingles.
need machinery that isn’t made in the U.S.
\/
YET
Funny how Tokyo Karpov drops these little turd nuggets every day on FR and then skiddaddles, never responding to his own threads.
The WSJ is as credible as the NYT anymore.
Never, EVER, take at face value a NeverTrumper outfit like WSJ has to say.
They will always distort the truth.
and without copious amounts of grift its hard to be existential
Green jobs are not smart for the economy.
More anti-American propaganda from the socialist machine.
I totally agree with the idea that companies like Apple and Tesla, etc... should bring their manufacturing back to the U.S. It makes sense for the economy and national security.
HOWEVER, this is not something that can happen overnight. It’ll take 8 to 10 years to build the factories, train people, and get everything running here.
Here is the thing, there needs to be some kind of guarantee that if Democrats win the next election, they won’t just drop the tariffs on China. If that happens, it wipes out the whole reason for US companies to even start moving things back. Without that protection, staying overseas will always be cheaper — and no business is going to invest in a long-term move if the rules can just flip in four years.
Well balanced tariff work. It creates equilibrium.
If the tariffs are too high (based on a mathematical error or wrong interpretation) then both sides could lose.
Since China now seems to be ending rare earths materials exports to America it looks like Ukraine’s rare earths will become more important than ever for America.
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