Mack Trucks will dismiss between 250 and 350 workers in its Lehigh Valley factory over the next three months, the company said, citing economic uncertainty and prices.
“Truck orders in heavy service continue to be negatively assigned by market uncertainty on freight rates and demand, possible regulatory changes and the impact of prices,” said Mack spokesman Kimberly Pupillo, in a press release.
Releases could allocate around 10% of the company’s 3,050 employees in its operating establishment in Lehigh Valley in Macungie, where workers bring together class 8 Mack trucks for North American and export markets. “We regret having to take this measure, but we must align production with a reduced demand for our vehicles,” said Pupillo.
Reductions of the workforce by an emblematic American brand in a region which is often a political bell tower for Pennsylvania in the oscillating state is a new undesirable for President Donald Trump, who has imposed radical import taxes on all goods entering the United States with the aim of relaunching national manufacturing.
This occurs when Trump faced a drop in approval ratings on his management of the economy and as republican members of the Congress controlled by the GOP, were faced with the heat of the voters of the town halls. A survey of CBS news published on Sunday revealed that 44% of Americans approve the management of the economy by Trump, down 4% compared to a previous survey in March.
The Republicans of the Lehigh Valley overthrew the local headquarters in Congress in last year’s elections, and national democrats have already declared that they would aim for the mid-term campaign of next year.
“Trump’s delusional and destructive prices cost families in my region their livelihoods!” The representative of the State Josh Siegel, a Democrat of the county of Lehigh, wrote on X Thursday evening. “The prices do not save American industry, they increase the costs of all families, destroying our economy and create an uncertainty for families and businesses!”
Trump at the White House said Thursday that it was “without haste” to negotiate trade agreements with other countries, reported the Associated Press, adding that “the prices make us rich”.
Mack has been founded in 1900 and since 2000, is a subsidiary of the Swedish multinational Volvo. Mack says that all trucks for the United States and Canada are assembled in American factories. But the company also imports parts and materials – including steel and aluminum – from “a number of countries,” said Pupillo.
Trump imposed 25% samples on all foreign steel and aluminum products, as well as a 25% tax on automotive imports. Other goods are faced with an import tax of 10%, while the White House said Tuesday that Chinese export prices reached 245% for certain goods.
In addition to the domestic market, Mack exports American trucks to other countries, which means that the company could face higher costs of reprisals imposed by foreign governments, although many have kept the case as they seek to mitigate tensions with the Trump administration.
Tim Hertzog, president of the store for United Auto Workers Local 677, said that he had met the company on Thursday. “Due to the decline of the market, there will be a rate and a reduction in the line,” he wrote in a letter to the members of the union which was published on Facebook.
In addition to the Pennsylvania Cups, Mack plans to fire up to 100 workers in a Hagerstown factory in Maryland, according to the commercial publication Freightwaves.
The trucking industry is struggling with a variety of opposite winds.
According to Ftr Transportation, according to FTr Transportation Intelligence, a forecasting company in Freight, a form of form forecasting, a transport company.
“The implementation and continuous threat of prices among the North American commerce combined with the continuous uncertainty of the economic and freight market have considerably reduced the investments of the fleet in class 8 trucks and tractors in recent months,” said the firm in an analysis.
According to S&P Global, around 40% of heavy trucks sold in the United States are imported from Canada and Mexico.
