Trump Used Century-High Tariffs to Reshape Trade. Is It Paying Off? | WSJ

I'm in Leavonia, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, at a company called AlphaUSA.

This factory makes fasteners like these for the automotive industry. They're

what keep your brake lines and your wires connected to the frame of your car as you drive down the street.

Like many other small and mediumsiz manufacturers I've talked to this year, AlphaUSA is having problems with Trump's tariffs.

>> You know, we're faced with an existential threat with this. Unless we

get some relief or unless we can pass these costs on, our company and many companies like us probably won't exist by the end of next year. I hate to say that, but but I mean it's it's the truth. I've covered President Trump's

truth. I've covered President Trump's fastmoving trade agenda in a year that's seen him hike tariffs to levels not seen in nearly a century and tear down the already shaky paradigms of the free

trade era. Trump says 2026 will bring a

trade era. Trump says 2026 will bring a rush of new American factories and jobs, but many of the changes are fragile and his promises have yet to pan out.

Companies know that if they build in America, there are no tariffs and that's why they're coming home to the USA in record numbers. Despite Trump's

record numbers. Despite Trump's promises, the US has lost tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs this year. But many proponents of his tariff

year. But many proponents of his tariff policy, like some of Michigan's union auto workers, say it's already supporting American factories.

>> The tariffs have definitely moved the needle and level the playing field and and brought product back here.

>> Okay, Gavin, this is where the magic happens.

>> Dirty, greasy, grimy manufacturing plant. This is part of our raw material.

plant. This is part of our raw material.

Uh there's a mixture here of stuff that's come from Taiwan and some from the United States. In these boxes are thousands of tiny nuts. AlphaUSA takes

the imported nuts and stamps them into long strips of US-made steel to make its parts, which are then eventually sold to car assembly plants. There's 50% tariff parts.

>> Every one of these. So, what used to cost a dime cost 15 cents now.

>> Yeah.

>> And and we've got some parts where we might be putting three large nuts into a part.

and they're 47 cents a piece.

>> Manufacturers like AlphaUSA are subject to tariffs imposed under section 232, a provision that allows the president to impose duties to protect national security. Section 232 has been used in

security. Section 232 has been used in recent years on steel and aluminum imports as well as cars and auto parts.

These are different from the sweeping reciprocal tariffs Trump announced on so-called liberation day. Those fall

under the International Emergency Economic Hours Act or IPA. Trump argues

he's allowed to institute these reciprocal tariffs for what he deems as national emergencies like fentinel and the trade deficit. How much do you think you've paid in tariffs this year so far?

>> Uh through November about $1.3 million US. Um and the current pace is uh a

US. Um and the current pace is uh a quarter of a million dollars a month between 225,000 250,000 a month. So,

does that mean that this plant could close or what does that mean for the business?

>> I don't know exactly what would happen.

We're a vital business partner to our customers. I think uh in this industry,

customers. I think uh in this industry, what'll happen is is is that they would be working with somebody else to to um still continue to make our parts. We're

going to battle to not let that happen.

Uh but the threat is real to us. The

auto industry has long been a focal point of Trump's tariff policies, but US manufacturing employment has slumped, shedding roughly 58,000 jobs this year through November. The auto industry

through November. The auto industry specifically has lost just over 15,000 jobs. Still, not everyone takes such a

jobs. Still, not everyone takes such a dim view of Trump's tariffs. We're here

in Warren, Michigan today. It's a hard scrabble suburb of Detroit to talk to workers who work at this assembly plant right here, the Stellantis Warren truck assembly plant where they make the Jeep

Wagon Ear. There's this plant and then

Wagon Ear. There's this plant and then there's one next door called the Warren Stamping Plant that makes the doors and the hoods that they put on the wagon and other Stallantis vehicles. Stalantis

said that they would cut over a thousand jobs at the Warren assembly plant, indefinitely laying off an entire shift of workers. But after Trump made his

of workers. But after Trump made his announcement of his automotive tariffs, they reversed course and said they would bring that shift of workers back and would expand production at other

Stallantis facilities as well. And I'm

seeing a lot of Stalantis cars in the lot here. I'm not sure how they're going

lot here. I'm not sure how they're going to feel about my rented Nissan Ultima. I

sat down with the presidents of two local UAW unions representing Stalantis workers at the Warren facilities as well as the UAW's representative to the company. So guys, tell me a little bit

company. So guys, tell me a little bit about Warren, Michigan. What is the character of this community here?

>> Hardworking bluecollar town. Uh many of our employees who work at uh Warren Truck live in the city of Warren. We

have UAW offices here in Warren. We have

numerous plants, not just Stellantis, but GM and a couple other plants.

>> So do you all see the tariffs as the overriding factor for the new investments that you're getting for the new model that you're going to have at the assembly plant? The UAW has long advocated for auto tariffs, targeted

auto tariffs and and up until the tariffs were uh recently uh implemented.

Um you know, we we faced, you know, major consequences with Warren Truck just over a year ago lost production of their Ram Classic uh losing a shift of production and also what laying off 1,600 of their employees, you know, put

on indefinite layoff. Um you know, flipping those folks' lives upside down.

But uh you know, with the recent announcements, especially at Eric's plant, they had no future investment at that point in time. And uh and since then uh you know they now have a uh what

a new uh full-size SUV coming their way.

Um that should generate a shift to production there and create roughly 900 jobs.

>> And the prospect of new business because of these those 900 jobs that investment that's the prospect of more business for for your members too. Right?

>> Definitely anytime you need a vehicle that's going to drive on the on the floor is going to be stampins for it.

>> And and to that point Warren Stampin Local 869 is extremely excited. They're

ready to work. They have the capability.

we have the white space to do it and they want the work. People uh are definitely uh excited about this administration and what's happened. Now

the tariff has seemed to work very well with the corporation. The corporations

are seeing this and and I don't know if they take it as a threat or as a guarantee that something will happen if they don't get that work back to the United States. And I think our

United States. And I think our memberships from every facility are waiting on it. So, we visit a parts supplier that make these little fasteners that keep parts connected to the frame of the vehicle. They say that

they've paid millions of dollars more this year in tariffs. Are there any implementation issues around it that you think even if we're going in the right direction, there are still some maybe some details to be ironed out there?

>> Well, it'd be nice to see all that manufacturing brought back here, too, at the end of the day. I mean, that's the intent of it, >> you know? I mean, if you're going to sell it here, you need to build it here.

I mean, that's that's the bottom line.

>> Yeah. When I when I first started working for Chrysler um in 1994, the big push was by American, >> right? And it was even at the point

>> right? And it was even at the point where you couldn't even really park a a foreign vehicle in the parking lot. And

I just feel like somehow we've gotten away from that. This country has gotten away from that. We can't keep talking about, wow, it would be great if we built that in the United States. Let's

start. We have the people. We have the the knowhow. That's what we do. Trump

the knowhow. That's what we do. Trump

and his allies say there will be many more examples like the Warren assembly plant in the year to come. They predict

a golden age for American manufacturing spurred by the tariffs, Trump's tax law, and lower interest rates. Some of

Trump's tariffs are at risk after the Supreme Court appeared skeptical of his authority to impose the broad levies that he unveiled on Liberation Day. But

that ruling, which is expected soon, won't help manufacturers like AlphaUSA since they fall under section 232, which is not part of the case.

>> These aren't just people to us. These

are families. We will do everything we can to keep those people employed. Of

course, we're not going to have the funding to be able to uh expand our capital base, which we dearly want to do. You know, there's a lot of things

do. You know, there's a lot of things that aren't going to happen uh if if this prevails.