came to an abrupt halt on Wednesday (March 12) after the impact of ‘s new tariffs have come into force amid his global trade war. The new tarrifs were announced in mid-February as stock market investors cheered President Trump’s “America First” agenda which saw only Mexico, Canada, and China come under the initial pressure. While two rounds of tariffs of China have been enacted, 25 percent duties on some some Canadian and most Mexican cross-border trade have been withdrawn until April 2 at the earliers.
The tariffs came into effect today and are designed to protect US manufacturing and bolster jobs by maing foreign-made products less attractive. These changes threaten to make the cost of things from cars to soft drink cans more expensive.
Minutes into the ITV show, Ed Balls and ‘s morning schedule was thrown into chaos when breaking news came out of Port Talbot in the heart of South Wales. Senior correspondent Jonathan Swain discussed the impact of ‘s 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports to the US which are coming into force.
The specialist began: “The special relationship [with America] is certainly not steel proof, is it? This industry has been struggling for many years now for a variety of reasons. But the news people are waking up to this morning, things have just got so much worse.
“The steel industry is so important isn’t it? It produces everything from steel cans they make just down the road from here to aeroplanes and cars, and we export 10 percent of steel to the United States which is worth around £225million”.
It was at this point that the broadcaster interviewed community union Alun Davies on the latest updates. He went on: “Steel is so important to this part of the world in South Wales. 18,000 people used to work here back in the day, and Alun Davies was one of them.
“You worked here for 10 years, you’re now a union representative in this industry, this is devastating news for people to wake up to this morning”.
He concurred: “It’s absolutely devastating, this is another nail in the coffin for people certainly now for people round here who have lost 2,000 jobs, this couldn’t come at a worse time”.
Jonathan added that the steel industry is at the very fabric of South Wales and Port Talbut, as Alun added: “In Port Talburt, it’s the tapestry that runs through this neck of the woods for a long time.
“There’s been a long history of people working from your fathers to your grandfathers, I used to look and think that my family would come and work here but that’s not the case anymore”.
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