Texas Business Owner Testifies Before Congress on Impact of Steel Tariffs

BRADY: Kennedy Fabricating is the perfect example of the dangerous impact that tariffs can have on American job creators and workers." Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. Today the President of Kennedy Fabricating Kevin Kennedy testified before the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means about the impact that of Section 232 steel tariffs have on his business. Kennedy was invited to speak by his Congressman Kevin Brady (R-TX) who leads the Ways and Means Committee. Located in Splendora Texas which is in Congressman Bradys congressional district Kennedy Fabricating is a steel fabrication business started by Kennedys father over 30 years ago and currently employs 350 people.

KEVIN KENNEDY: Today we are presented with an insurmountable obstacle that no U.S. manufacturer should have to face. We face the challenge of our own government effectively subsidizing foreign manufacturers at our expense by giving them a significant cost advantage through the Section 232 Steel Tariffs. These tariffs have eliminated imported steel overnight and without any competition U.S. steel producers have raised prices over 40. Before today we were an exporter. We were competitive enough to manufacture drilling rigs and export them to countries like India Russia and even Mexico. Not so today. We went from exporting our products to international buyers to having the U.S. government force our U.S. customers to import the products we make from our foreign competitors. Again who wins? We dont need our government to remove the obstacles that our business encounters. We have a 30‐year track record proving our ability to adapt and overcome those. We do however need our government to stop creating obstacles through practices that serve to aide our foreign competition at the expense of US jobs.

READ Kennedys full testimony HERE. CHAIRMAN BRADY: Kennedy Fabricating is the perfect example of the dangerous impact that tariffs can have on American job creators and workers" Chairman Brady said. President Trump is absolutely right to go after China for their dishonest trade practices and theft of American intellectual property. They are hurting our economy and costing us jobs. The challenge is to carefully target these tariffs so that businesses like Kennedy Fabricating are not negatively impacted as well. Ive said it many times tariffs are taxes. Lower is better - zero is best. I will continue to work with President Trump to find the best way to target bad actors through our trade policies without negating the enormous benefits of the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act being enjoyed by Texas families." READ Bradys full opening statement HERE.