German Company Plans American Manufacturing Expansion to Avoid Chinese Tariffs

A German forklift maker is planning to expand manufacturing in the United States to avoid being hit with tariffs in China that President Donald Trump has imposed to protect American industry and jobs.

Every year, Kion sells about 3,000 vehicles in the U.S. and about half of those sold come from China where they are manufactured. Now, because of Trump’s economic nationalist agenda and billion-dollar tariffs on Chinese imports, Kion executives tell the Wall Street Journal they are planning to expand their manufacturing in America to avoid those tariffs in China:

“It is worth exploring ways to expand our production in the U.S. to avoid tariffs,” Ms. Groth said. The company is searching for additional U.S.-based suppliers that could provide its factory in Summerville with parts, she added. [Emphasis added]

The U.S. tariffs cost Kion a few million euros last year, Ms. Groth said. “In 2019, this amount will be higher,” she added. [Emphasis added]

Kion’s planned manufacturing shift from China to the U.S. — where it employs about 3,000 Americans in Michigan, Utah, and California — is just the latest success of Trump’s tariffs to protect U.S. jobs and to rebuild the country’s devastated manufacturing industry that was gutted by years of free trade deals.

American Greatness editor Julie Kelly told SiriusXM Patriot’s Breitbart News Tonight that Republicans who oppose tariffs and support free trade “have no answers” to deal with issues like Chinese monopolizing of the U.S. economy.

“Okay, you object to Donald Trump’s … tariffs, what is your answer though?” Kelly said. “What is your solution to Chinese intellectual property theft? What is your solution to countries taking advantage of us and stealing jobs out of this country for their own benefit?”

“And now we’re realizing what we’ve been told by these conservatives being for free trade. There’s no such thing as free trade,” Kelly continued. “And if you ask them, ‘Okay, how would you resolve these problems,’ they have no answer.”

As Breitbart News economics editor John Carney noted, production at American factories boomed in December 2018. Vehicle production is up nearly eight percent compared to 2017 and overall output at U.S. factories grew 1.1 percent. This was a four percent increase in output year-to-year.

The country’s manufacturing base, protected by a tariff wall, is vital to more American job creation, research by the Economic Policy Institute reveals.

For every one American job created in manufacturing durable goods, about 7.4 other U.S. jobs are created directly and indirectly in other industries. In the nondurable manufacturing industry, for every one U.S. job, more than five American jobs are created in other industries.

Trump’s 25 percent tariff on steel imports has been a boon to American steelworkers. As Breitbart News reported, there have been about 11,100 U.S. jobs created due to Trump’s protective tariffs, according to the latest data available by the Coalition for a Prosperous America.

On the other hand, there have been about 514 job losses directly tied to the tariffs, meaning there have been 20 times as many American jobs that have been created in the last six months thanks to Trump’s tariffs on imported foreign goods than jobs that have been lost.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.