The Trump Administration recently imposed a 25-percent tariff on imported steel and a 10-percent tariff on imported aluminum.

The tariffs on steel have certainly affected one local business in Greene County. Scranton Manufacturing Vice-President of Operations Jim Ober says most of their steel is made domestically with a very small percentage is sent overseas. However, Ober points out that their business has seen about a 30-percent increase in the price of their steel that they purchase. He says they purchase about 1.5-million-pounds of steel per month through the Scranton facility.

Ober notes that they have two companies, one in Canada and the other in Mexico, that they have working relationships with, where they make products for them and they make products for Scranton Manufacturing. He says both trading partners have their share of difficulties.

“We struggled trying to keep Canadian sales up when you combine the tariffs with the exchange rate. It’s difficult for us when there’s manufacturers of garbage trucks in Canada that don’t have those issues to compete with. Same situation where it’s difficult for us to compete in Mexico. We’re manufacturing products in Mexico that take care of Central America, South America and Mexico, basically because it’s difficult for us to compete and again the tariffs make that worse yet.”

He adds that for long-term, they can spread out the increased price to their customers, but in the short-term, they are having to make adjustments financially.

“We have probably six months of backlog of orders that were already placed at the existing price (of steel). During that time we are required to absorb that. We tried to pass that onto our customers, it didn’t go over well. So internally we’re absorbing that 30-percent increase in the steel price.”

Experts say this is a way for the Trump Administration to negotiate a better agreement of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).