U.S. Steel To Invest $750 Million To Revitalize Flagship Plant
Published Filed under Culture & Heartland, US News. Total of no comments in the discussion.Trump Effect: U.S. Steel To Invest $750 Million To Revitalize Flagship Gary Plant
/in Economy, Labor / Unions, Policy, Politics, Social Issues /by Pamela Geller
U.S. Steel, in the wake of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on imports, has announced a $750 million revitalization of its Gary plant.
Trump’s tariffs have been scoffed and denounced by elites in the media as antithetical to America’s interests, and a surefire path to trade wars.
But here’s one effect that’s hardly doom and gloom: An American business is investing American dollars in a venture that will ultimately help drive the American economy.
Hard to argue with that.
From the Chicago Tribune:
U.S. Steel announced Thursday that it is investing $750 million to revitalize its flagship Gary plant to gear up for increased demand in the wake of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on imported steel.
The company said the investment will make “significant upgrades” to increase efficiencies at the 110-year-old Northwest Indiana plant, which is U.S. Steel’s largest, employing 3,800 workers.
Nhe investment in the Gary plant is part of a $2 billion asset revitalization program at Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel. The five-year Gary project will include building expansion and the installation of new production equipment and technology.
No new hires were announced as part of the plant improvements.
“There are no committed new jobs at this point, but the project will retain the more than 3,800 jobs in Gary,” Abby Gras, a spokeswoman for the Indiana Economic Development Corp., said Thursday.
U.S. Steel Corp. President and CEO David Burritt credited favorable trade policies on steel imports as instrumental to the company’s facility modernization program.
“We are pleased to be making this significant investment at Gary Works, which will improve the facility’s environmental performance, bolster our competitiveness and benefit the local community for years to come,” Burritt said in a news release.
“We are experiencing a renaissance at U.S. Steel,” he added.
Earlier this year, U.S. Steel announced it was restarting two blast furnaces and hiring 800 workers at a previously idled steel plant in downstate Granite City, near St. Louis. Trump visited the Illinois plant last month to celebrate its reopening as “a great victory” and a sign that his protectionist trade policies were working.
Trump imposed tariffs of 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on imported aluminum in March, launching an escalating trade war with China and other countries. The domestic steel industry has emerged as an early winner, but others may be hurt by retaliatory tariffs.
For example, Milwaukee-based manufacturer Harley-Davidson announced in June it would move some production overseas to avoid tariffs on American-made motorcycles imposed by the European Union in response to Trump’s measures.
China dominates the global steel market, but Trump’s tariffs on imported steel are seen as a catalyst for domestic manufacturers such as U.S. Steel.
U.S. and Chinese officials said Thursday they would hold talks later this month in a bid to ease the escalating trade war.
Located on the southern shore of Lake Michigan, Gary Works is U.S. Steel’s largest manufacturing plant, with an annual raw steelmaking capability of 7.5 million net tons. The facility makes sheet products, strip mill plate in coils and tin products.
“Today’s news is a major step forward that will have a lasting positive impact on the city of Gary, the northwest region and the state of Indiana for years to come,” Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb said in the release.
RELATED ARTICLES:
In Ditching NAFTA, Trump Reaches Deal With Mexico, Invites Canada to Join
Iran’s Saber Rattling on Persian Gulf Likely to Rattle World Oil Markets
Please contribute to our ground-breaking work here.
EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in The Geller Report. The featured image is of the United States Steel Corporation headquarters in downtown Pittsburgh, Pa., taken on Thursday, March 29, 2007. Lake Fong/Bloomberg News.
This article is republished with permission from our friend Dr. Rich Swier.
Utah Standard News depends on the support of readers like you.
Good Journalism requires time, expertise, passion and money. We know you appreciate the coverage here. Please help us to continue as an alternative news website by becoming a subscriber or making a donation. To learn more about our subscription options or make a donation, click here.
To Advertise on UtahStandardNews.com, please contact us at: ed@utahstandardnews.com.
Comments - No Responses to “U.S. Steel To Invest $750 Million To Revitalize Flagship Plant”
Sure is empty down here...