Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Engine Manufacturer in Mike Pence's Hometown Explains How Devastating Donald Trump's Trade War With China Is For Their Business

Engine Manufacturer in Mike Pence's Hometown Explains How Devastating Donald Trump's Trade War With China Is For Their Business

Whoah.

President Donald Trump's tariffs on Chinese imports is hurting an iconic American company based in Columbus, Indiana, which is the hometown of Vice President Mike Pence. A representative of Cummins Manufacturing went on MSNBC to raise the alarm of how much the president's trade war is costing their business.

Speaking with MSNBC's Vaughn Hillyard on Friday, Tracy Embree, president of Cummins' components division said Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminum have had a "pretty significant impact on us with some of our engines, specifically a piece called blocks and head."


Cummins, the world's largest producer of diesel engines, has "no source in the U.S. for those parts," Embree explained. "Right now capacity is not available, with the exception of suppliers in China."

The total financial impact on the company so far in 2018 is $100 million, which adds up to "$200 million annually," according to Embree.

Embree said Cummins is "aligned with the goals of the administration on the creation of strong trade agreements that are fair," but that "tariffs are not the right answer to accomplish that."

Visibly frustrated, Embree added: "In fact, tariffs are harmful, tariffs are a tax, and that affects American workers, affects American companies."

Following her interview, Embree tweeted that international trade "has been the single biggest contributor to growth" for Cummins "for more than a decade."

As governor of Indiana, Pence cut taxes and set up trade deals with China specifically to benefit Cummins, which has grown into a $20 billion company.

Since Trump and Pence took office, however, Cummins has expressed concern over the administration's trade policies.

In July, Cummins CEO Tom Linebarger told The Washington Post that he was "very worried" about potential job losses due to the company's dependence on Chinese exports.

"We will do everything we can to mitigate . . . the impact to jobs," Linebarger said. "It’s very clear, though, that we’re not going to be able to mitigate everything."

The Brookings Institution found in 2017 that the Columbus, Indiana region, also the hometown of Pence, is the most export-reliant area in the United States.

"Over half of the economy in Columbus, IN is driven by exports, largely due to its machinery manufacturing cluster," Brookings said in a report released shortly after Trump's inauguration.

WaPo explained just how much is at stake in Columbus:

"Pence’s hometown oozes internationalism: 40 foreign companies have a presence, more than half of them Japanese engines and auto-parts plants, employing almost 10,000 people. The area’s schools collectively speak 51 languages. The city ranks second in the nation in the per capita percentage of H-1B visas for foreign workers."

In a July op-ed in the New York Times, Linebarger explained: "International trade has been the single most important contributor to growth and hiring at Cummins for nearly two decades."

"Let’s be clear: a tariff is a tax, plain and simple."

"Half of our business is outside the United States," he said, "and more than 20 percent of the 25,000 Cummins jobs in America are directly tied to international business."

One engine in particular produced by Cummins "was developed in the United States but is manufactured in China for the Chinese market." Approximately 5,000 of these engines are exported from China to the United States every year.

Due to Trump's tariffs, Linebarger said: "This product — developed by American engineers and sold by an American company — faces a 25 percent tariff here at home and must compete against products from European and other Asian engine manufacturers that are not subject to the tariffs."

Linebarger added that Trump's tariffs "put us in a worse position now than when we started these negotiations, and we are concerned there is no end in sight," and that he sees "no upside in the implementation of tariffs."

"The mere threat of tariffs results in significant costs for Cummins that cannot be recovered."

In January, Linebarger met with Trump at the White House to try to dissuade him from imposing tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, but to no avail.

"Our advice was not to do tariffs . . . but obviously, it did not persuade," Linebarger told the Post. "Their view of what’s eventually good for our company differs to mine."

More from People/donald-trump

Elon Musk and Grimes
Kevin Tachman/Getty Images for Vogue

Elon Musk's Ex Grimes Calls X Platform A 'Poison' And 'Theatre' After Social Media Hiatus

Claire Boucher—who performs and creates under her stage name Grimes, but prefers her birth name or just "C" offstage—recently returned to her musical persona's social media accounts after taking a hiatus for her own well-being.

Once extremely active, she noted on X in April:

Keep ReadingShow less
Mark Ruffalo; Screenshot of Joe Rogan
Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival; The Joe Rogan Experience

Mark Ruffalo Blasts Joe Rogan For Being Shocked By ICE Raids On Non-Criminal Immigrants

Actor Mark Ruffalo took podcaster Joe Rogan to task, saying he is being either "not that smart or not that dumb" for thinking that the Trump administration's ongoing immigration crackdown would only target criminals.

News outlets have reported numerous examples of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arresting individuals, including U.S. citizens, who have no criminal record, or whose criminal record is limited to minor offenses.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots of Peter Doocy and Karoline Leavitt
Fox News

Peter Doocy Brings The Receipts After Leavitt Tries To Deflect Away From His Question About 'Epstein List'

Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy was not buying what White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was selling when she did her best to gaslight him over Attorney General Pam Bondi's claim that the so-called Epstein files do not exist.

Given the fascination surrounding documents related to late financier, pedophile, and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein—rumored to contain the names of Epstein's most high-profile enablers—Bondi's remarks stunned critics and supporters of the Trump administration alike.

Keep ReadingShow less
Australian conservationist Robert Irwin accidentally dined and dashed at The Jetty Pavilion, as shown on the right.
@robertirwinphotography/Instagram; @jettypavilioncoffs/Instagram

Robert Irwin's Sweet Dine and Dash Apology

Conservationist and all-around good guy Robert Irwin apologized for an unintentional dine-and-dash after grabbing a salad at The Jetty Pavilion in Coffs Harbour, Australia. In an Instagram post, Irwin explained that he was traveling along the east coast of New South Wales and stopped for dinner.

Irwin shared the funny story with his 7.6 million followers.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from Department of Homeland Security's video
@DHSgov/X

Pastor Gives Homeland Security An Epic Bible Lesson After Video Misuses Well-Known Bible Verse

After the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shared a video on X featuring the “send me” phrasing of the Bible verse Isaiah 6:8 while showing border patrol searching for migrants, Pastor Zach W. Lambert called out the agency's hypocrisy, noting how it is twisting Scripture to suit the Trump administration's ends.

The agency shared the video that includes the following narration:

Keep ReadingShow less