[Breitbart] New Orleans, LA ‐ The owner of a Louisiana pipe company says business is booming thanks to President Trump’s tariffs on imported steel and aluminum.In an interview with the Monroe News Star, Jackie Rosenberg said his company Sol’s Pipe and Steel, which buys steel to make into pipes for domestic projects, has benefitted greatly from Trump’s 25 percent tariff on steel imports despite costs slightly rising.
Greg Hilburn with the Monroe News Star reports:
"America shouldn’t be in a position where it has to rely on foreign steel for its ships, tanks and skyscrapers," said Jackie Rosenberg. "It’s a strategic metal." [Emphasis added]
He has since had to buy steel at higher prices after exhausting his inventory, but he said a booming economy hasn’t reduced demand for his pipe or plates. [Emphasis added]
Rosenberg said steel prices have risen about 25 percent since the tariffs were put in place, but the more expensive material hasn’t dampened "a strong surge in our own business" in 2018, although he declined to provide specific revenue. [Emphasis added]
Sol’s Pipe and Steel employs about 100 workers at its Monroe, Louisiana plant. Rosenberg’s father, Sol Rosenberg who founded the pipe company, survived the Holocaust and was the only member of his Polish family to do so.
As Breitbart News has chronicled, Trump’s tariffs have been a boon to steel towns like Granite City, Illinois that were previously crushed by free trade. Likewise, Ashland, Kentucky, another small town that had its regional economy destroyed by free trade, will soon be getting a new aluminum mill that will employ 550 American workers.