1,000 Jobs

Trump’s tariffs also could affect plans announced by China-based Wanhua Group to build a $1.2 billion chemical complex in Louisiana that the company estimates would create more than 1,000 jobs directly and indirectly in Louisiana, Texas and Pennsylvania.

The list of $200 billion in goods targeted for tariffs includes aniline, which the company plans to import from China to make methylenediphenyl diisocyanate, or MDI, James Newport, general manufacturing site manager for Wanhua Chemical US Operations LLC, testified last week. It’s a chemical used primarily for foam insulation for residential and commercial construction, he said.

Newport declined to discuss the status of the project, announced last year and expected to open by 2021, as well as what impact the tariffs may have. But the company has asked to have chemical feedstock products removed from the tariff list and said its investment plans achieve Trump’s goals of bringing manufacturing to the U.S. and addressing the trade gap with China.

“What we’re doing in our company is exactly what the administration is encouraging to happen,” Newport testified.

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.

https://www.bloombergquint.com/global-economics/2018/08/30/trump-tariffs-are-roadblock-for-companies-hoping-to-grow-in-u-s