Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1530445
W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 13 D E C E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 2 4 F O C U S M A N U FA C T U R I N G "If that happens, their governments may retaliate by raising tariffs on U.S. products like ours," Leonard warns. "at would force our export customers to buy from our competitors offshore, like China." Despite two anti-dumping victories against China under her belt, Leonard is unsure what else U.S. companies can do to stop the importation of heavily subsidized goods from China or elsewhere without incentives from Washington to cover the legal costs of filing such actions. "Without such incentives, few companies have the resources to go it alone," she says. "at's what led U.S. manufacturers to offshore their production in the first place." Elsewhere in Maine, Puritan Medical Products is a Guilford-based maker of swabs for medical and research uses with around 450 employees. e family-owned firm, which closed its Tennessee factory last year in a major restructuring, has added 100 employees this year and is seeking to fill another 50 openings, in Guilford and Pittsfield, according to Robert Shultz, the company's president and CFO. He says that Puritan gets all but 10% of its raw materials from other countries and sells mainly in the United States, which accounts for 80% to 85% of sales. With factory orders up this year, Shultz wonders what will happen if Trump's tariffs are implemented and achieve their intended goal of promoting sales of American-made goods. "How are companies going to meet that demand if everyone is already constrained with employees?" he says. "We will need a scenario plan." C O N T I N U E D O N F O L L OW I N G PA G E ยป SALES@WAREBUTLER.COM Ware-Butler will supply products to earthwork and concrete jobs, roads/ bridges/construction jobs, grow businesses, storage units, livestock farms, health centers and commercial buildings of all types, infrastructure projects such as sand-salt sheds and municipal buildings, etc. WAREBUTLER.COM CONTACT US for your non-residential and commercial construction needs statewide in Maine. Put our statewide buying power and experienced sales team to work for you! Fabric / Pipe / Culverts / Styrofoam insulation / Construction lumber Sheet goods / Millwork / Metal roofing and siding products PRODUCTS OFFERED: AND MORE! F I L E P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Kathie Leonard, president and CEO of Auburn Manufacturing Inc., cites concerns about threated Trump tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico.