DETROIT _ The U.S. Steel operation in Ecorse, Mich., will temporarily lay off nearly 200 workers because of "market conditions and recent reductions in customer demand," the company said in a filing with Michigan state government.
The WARN Act filing said about 50 employees have been laid off since July and "further layoffs are likely to commence on Sept. 30." The layoffs are expected to be temporary, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification said, but also may last longer than six months.
In mid-June, Reuters reported, the company said it would idle two blast furnaces at the Great Lakes plant downriver from Zug Island and at its Gary Works in Indiana, citing lower steel prices and softening demand.
The layoffs come as President Donald Trump has trumpeted the resurgence of the domestic steel industry. Last week in Pennsylvania, Trump said his 25% tariff on foreign imports has turned a "dead" business into a "thriving" enterprise.
"Our steel mills are fired up and blazing bright. The assembly lines are roaring," Trump said. "Those steel mills _ U.S. Steel and all of them, all of them _ they're expanding all over the place."
Domestic steel prices rose in the immediate aftermath of Trump's tariffs and U.S. Steel restarted two plants. But steel and stock prices have fallen dramatically amid improved supplies and weakening demand from the auto and farm machinery sectors, CNBC said.
U.S. Steel's stock price has fallen 73% since March 1, 2018, when Trump announced his decision to crack down on foreign imports.
A U.S. Steel spokeswoman said the company "currently" doesn't expect "any employment level changes" at the Indiana plant. CNBC said that the city of Gary and the state of Indiana have offered U.S. Steel a $47 million tax break package to help it invest $750 million in modernizing Gary Works, its largest North American plant.
