Benada Aluminum, an American owned and operated aluminium extruder located in Sanford, Florida USA has recently added dozens of jobs for a new production line at its Sanford factory. The company is of the view that the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration “have levelled the playing field” for domestic producers. It's the first Central Florida company to say it is benefiting from the tariffs.
The production expansion will add 35 jobs and by September. Jim Piperato, president of Benada says demand for U.S.-made aluminium goods has gone up because the addition of 10 per cent tariff on imported aluminium has made domestic prices more competitive.
He says that if factories around the world can be subsidized by governments or benefit from lower energy costs to run operations, they can also be protected by import tariffs.
Benada imports aluminium from South America and the Middle East to make its products; which are not targeted by import tariffs. The company makes extrusion profiles for patio enclosures, fences and other uses.
Damage from Hurricane Irma swayed the board last year to go ahead with the new production line, which already had been in the works, Piperato said. Many of the employees have been hired for the line that begins operation Friday.
But he is off the view that targeted countries may reroute products to evade the tariffs.
“The problem for the import side, and the classic example is China, you can put a tariff on China, and now they’re dropping product though Vietnam into the U.S.,” he said. “There’s more coming from Vietnam than they can produce … Australia has put tariffs on Vietnam. Eventually, they’ll move to another country,” he concluded.
Responses
