Steel Mills
January 12, 2020
ATI Midland Closure Looming Due to Import Tariffs
Written by Sandy Williams
Allegheny Technologies’ Midland plant may be on the chopping block if the Trump administration doesn’t approve an exclusion from Section 232 tariffs. ATI CEO Robert Wetherbee, in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, demonstrated how difficult it can be to support Trump trade policies and one’s own business interests.
Wetherbee believes the tariffs were imposed for “good reasons”—to counteract subsidized steel that was flooding the U.S. well below market price. “I supported that intervention and I still do,” said Wetherbee, while acknowledging that the tariffs are a blunt instrument that also has harmed many American companies, including ATI.
