He’s a factory owner and friends with Trump. That makes tariffs personal.
Live MintWICHITA, Kan.—Donald Trump’s exact plans to raise tariffs remain a mystery, even to Phil Ruffin, a close friend and business partner to the president-elect. Increased tariffs could boost business for Harper Trucks, a small hand-truck manufacturer Ruffin has owned for more than four decades, or end up raising costs of parts the factory imports from China. He declined to share how much money he makes from the hand-truck factory, but put it this way: “If I depended on Harper for a living, I’d be in big trouble." In recent years, Vietnam emerged as a major winner in Trump’s first trade war, becoming a magnet for Chinese manufacturers looking to get around tariffs. “I would take a tariff on Vietnam if it made the playing field equal," said Harper’s senior vice president and general manager, Chris Squires.
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