Standing alone on the floor of the once-humming Stoughton Trailers factory, company president Bob Wahlin assessed his mothballed machinery.
Nearly all the lights were off in the 330,000-square-foot plant, located on the eastern edge of town, just off U.S. Highway 14 between Madison and Janesville. It was, Wahlin said, “pretty depressing.”
Then his iPhone flashed with a news alert.
A coalition of U.S. trailer manufacturers, including Stoughton, had prevailed in their complaint that Chinese companies were selling trailer chassis in the United States for below the actual cost of making them, a trade violation known as dumping, that unfairly harms competitors.
Soon, import tariffs of more than 200% would be levied on those Chinese trailers, which are used to haul ocean-cargo containers on American highways. Sales would swing back to the U.S. manufacturers, supporting thousands of jobs in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Alabama and Texas.
