President Trump is ramping up his long-planned tariff war, promising to restore “Boomtown USA.” Before the start of the president’s first term, one small town made a bid to revive its manufacturing glory days. After a foreign company came to town, it made some headway. WSJ’s Chao Deng explores the story of Newberry, South Carolina. Further Listening: - Wall Street Speaks Out Against Tariffs - Trump 2.0: Trade Wars and Deportation Battles - Trump’s Tariffs Force a New Era in Global Trade Sign up for WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Rick Farmer works in Newberry, South Carolina, as the county's economic development officer. So tell us about Newberry.
Sure. First of all, it's a great little community. The city's motto is the city of friendly folks. It is, in a lot of ways, it's similar to other small South Carolina towns, or small cities, actually. Population's about 10,000.
Are there grumpy folks in Newberry?
Oh, sure. They're everywhere.
Back in 2016, Rick got some bad news.
I remember it like it was yesterday. April of 2016, I got a phone call. Hey, Rick, did you hear the news? And the news was our local caterpillar plant was closing.
Caterpillar, the iconic American manufacturer of construction equipment. It was leaving its factory in Newberry, and that meant losing over 300 jobs. When you first heard that news that they were moving out, how would you describe it?
Well, I knew there would be a lot of concern because, again, it was our number one brand. It was the most recognized brand that was here in Newberry County. They were some of the best jobs in the community. And I remember standing on the floor of Community Hall explaining to the Rotary Club why this is not the end of the world.
But at the same time, I just wondered how much of that I really believed and how much of that I was just trying to keep folks from panicking.
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