A gigantic facility with rust-red chimneys and cisterns towers above the horizon in the city of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. During the 1900s, the factory Bethlehem Steel pumped out steel that was used to build some of New York's largest skyscrapers, such as the Empire State Building and Rockefeller Center.
However, the steelworks could not compete with the more efficient factories in South Korea and Japan and ceased steel production in 1995.
When Jeff Fegley opened his brewery in Bethlehem three years later, the city was on the decline after the collapse of the steel industry.
The city center looked very bleak, with closed storefronts. The city's hotels had just gone bankrupt and closed, he says.
Want to shake life into the rust belt
Small breweries – there are 500 in Pennsylvania – have emerged as industries have shut down.
We have been an important part of the renewal of the city center in Bethlehem, says Fegley.
The clock is just after one, and lunch guests are streaming into the brewery's restaurant. In a large room behind the bar, there are rows of steel-bright cisterns used for brewing beer. President Donald Trump has promised that the high tariffs he introduced last week will shake new life into the rust belt and strengthen its industries and small businesses.
But the tariffs pose problems for Jeff Fegley's brewery. Both hops for the beer and aluminum for the beer cans are imported from abroad.
A large part of the grain we use when brewing beer comes from Canada. If the tariffs remain, we'll have to see how much of the increased costs we can absorb ourselves, and how much will have to be passed on to consumers through higher prices.
"Affected by injustices"
At the same time, he hopes that Trump's tariff package can also have a positive effect.
The President has a point that the USA has been affected by injustices in trade. He wants the economy to flourish, so I don't think the tariffs will be long-lasting.
I think it's about forcing other countries to the negotiating table and creating new agreements that level the playing field.
That working-class voters abandoned the Democrats for the Republicans was crucial for Trump's election victories in Pennsylvania and other states in the "rust belt", both in 2016 and 2024. The term rust belt is a dark pun, implying that the former growth region "steel belt" is now rusting away. There, promises to bring industry back to the USA resonated with voters.
The autoworkers' union United Autoworkers, UAW, supported Kamala Harris in the election, but has praised Trump's tariffs. "We are glad that a president in the USA is taking action against the catastrophic free trade that has struck the working class like a bomb", the union writes in a statement.
Takes time to build up industries
But the 2,600 UAW members working at the Mack Trucks factory half an hour south of Bethlehem are divided on the issue.
Some hope that the tariffs will lead to more jobs coming back to Pennsylvania, says Dan Hand, UAW representative at Mack Trucks. He himself is skeptical of UAW leader Shaun Fein's positive words about the tariffs.
I don't understand how he thinks. It will take a very, very long time to build up new industries from scratch.
A new survey from Marquette Law School shows that 51 percent of people in the USA without a college education believe that new tariffs harm the economy, while 32 percent think they help the economy.
Dan Hand fears that the tariffs will hit Mack Trucks hard, which in turn will affect the employees.
The components in the trucks come from all over the world: Sweden, Mexico, Brazil... If the prices of the trucks increase due to the tariffs, there is a great risk that people will lose their jobs, says Dan Hand.
Countries impose tariffs on goods at import. It can be to protect domestic industry or to bring in revenue for the state treasury.
Since Donald Trump took office as president on January 20, he has introduced a range of tariffs in hopes of reshaping the global economy.
On April 2, Trump announced a tariff package that has been described as the most aggressive in modern times. It involves tariffs of 10 percent against approximately 180 countries. 60 countries also received sharply increased tariffs.
Experts believe that the tariffs risk harming domestic industry and having very negative consequences for both the US economy and the global economy.
On Wednesday, Trump partially retreated and chose to pause parts of the tariffs for three months. The basic tariffs of 10 percent remain, however.
For the EU's part, this means a halving, from 20 to 10 percent. China, on the other hand, will receive tariffs of up to a total of 145 percent.
The 25-percent tariffs on steel, aluminum, and cars previously introduced are not being paused.
Source: New York Times, Kommerskollegium, TT
