[Video]China is killing my business. Now tariffs are too.

[aRNoLD]

Trump approves tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods
by Pamela Brown and Julia Horowitz @CNNMoney

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awME0OEJA4U
Gary Hartman runs one of the few chassis manufacturers left in the US. He explains why his business is in big trouble thanks to competition from China, and why getting on Trump's tariff list is critical.

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Transcript
"How much of your business have you lost to China?"

"On large scale orders, we lost 100 percent of our business."

"Hundred percent? So all of it?"

"Yes, a hundred percent."

Gary Hartman has spent most of his life working at Cheetah Chassis, and says he's watched the company go from one of the world's biggest manufacturers of chasis for shipping containers to barely breaking even.

"There are not a lot of heavy steel manufacturers left in this country, and we've been able to survive. It's difficult but we are still here."

So Hartman took tens of thousands of dollars from his own company for one trip to Washington DC.

"We talked to people who actually work in our factory. And we said, you know, should we go after this or, you know, should we just let it go and not get on the tariff listings."

That trip to Washington had full support of his employees. The tens of thousands of dollars was for a lawyer who helped him testify in front of the US trade office about President Trump's proposed 25 percent tariff on nearly thirteen hundred goods from China. While most companies want to get their products off the tariff list, Hartman was trying to get Chasis on it.

"On a list of products to be subject to additional duties."

It's a last ditch effort for a company, and in the last two decades, Cheetah has laid off 65 percent of its employees. The company also only buys US steel, and prices are up about 40 percent this year in anticipation of the tariffs put on Chinese steel and aluminum, but its biggest threat has been a Chinese chassis maker, CIMC, which has engulfed more than 80 percent of the North American chassis market.

"Well, we are not on the same playing field because we are a US company privately held, and United States just doesn't subsidize manufacturers like China does."

"You know there's always gonna be competition, domestic or abroad?"

"Right. We can compete, on a level playing field. We've done it with a manufacturer in Mexico, but it's not a level playing field, so you really cannot compete."

"I'm sorry they feel that way."

Frank Sonzala is the president of the Chinese competitor, CIMC, and argues that even with the 25% tariff, Cheetah couldn't make enought products to support US demand.

"And if we are hurt by the so called tariffs, we'll find a way to continue to manufacture chassis, and we'll still get the market share because we are the innovators in this industry."

"Is getting on this tariff make or break for this company?"

"It's gonna be a lot harder to stay in business if we don't."

Hartman hasn't forgotten that he and many of his employees here in Pennsylvania helped elect President Trump for the promise he made them to keep the door open at businesses like Cheetah.

"He sold us on. I'm gonna help with that trade issue, and people remember it, people in the factory remember it, you know. If we cannot do something, whether it's this tariff or if it's something else to help us have a fair playing field, a level field with China, you know, I'm not sure people are going to buy into it in four years."

References:
large scale orders: 大批量订单、大额订单
breaking even: 收支持平
last ditch effort: 最后的努力
engulf: 吞噬、占据
subsidize: 补贴
a level playing field: 同等对待所有竞争者的市场、公平竞争无补贴的市场
make or break: 挽救抑或毁灭
sell on [phrasal verb]
sell (someone) on (something)
: to persuade (someone) to be interested in and excited about (something)
He tried to sell them on the value of the project he was proposing.
— often used as (be) sold on
She wasn't sold on the idea. [=she wasn't convinced that it was a good idea]
buy into (something): 接受某种观点并受之影响
informal to accept that an idea is right and allow it to influence you