Latest news with #VolvoGroupNorthAmerica
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump's Tariffs Liberate More Manufacturing Workers from Their Jobs
President Donald Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs and their ensuing market chaos are about to cause hundreds more U.S. manufacturing workers to lose their jobs. Volvo Group North America confirmed it will soon fire between 550 and 800 workers at its Mack Trucks site in Macungie, Pennsylvania, and at Volvo Group facilities in Dublin, Virginia, and Hagerstown, Maryland. 'Heavy-duty truck orders continue to be negatively affected by market uncertainty about freight rates and demand, possible regulatory changes, and the impact of tariffs,' said a spokesperson for Volvo Group North America to Reuters. 'We regret having to take this action, but we need to align production with reduced demand for our vehicles.' Josh Siegel, a Democratic state lawmaker in Pennsylvania, told ABC27 that Trump's tariffs have been a 'devastating blow to Lehigh Valley workers.' That is where Mack Trucks remains one of the region's largest employers, but will soon hand out pink slips to 350 of its employees there. 'Workers are not just numbers—they are parents, neighbors, veterans, and skilled tradespeople who built America's backbone,' Siegel said. The White House has been inconsistent in explaining the goal of its tariffs, which have been imposed, lowered, paused, or outright rescinded at a dizzying pace since Trump rolled them out on April 2. The tariffs had steeper rates on countries with which the U.S. has a trade deficit, like China, Vietnam, and others in the developing world. Trump claimed the higher duties would force companies to bring manufacturing jobs back stateside to save on costs. The tariffs have had an inverse effect so far, harming the livelihoods of hundreds of blue-collar workers, whom Trump claims he wants to help the most. Stellantis NV announced on 'Liberation Day' itself that it was laying off 900 workers in the U.S. after Trump's tariffs announcement. Others followed suit shortly after, primarily driven by market volatility. The S&P 500 was down eight percent on Tuesday compared to a month ago, which was a week-and-a-half before 'Liberation Day.' The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down the same amount in that span. A Goldman Sachs report published last week estimates Trump's tariffs will bring 100,000 new manufacturing jobs to the U.S. thanks to shifting supply chains. That is precisely the sort of figures Trump has been hoping to hear, but the White House has not touted the report. That is likely because Goldman Sachs also warns that an estimated 500,000 other American jobs will be destroyed in the process. Such job losses would be about double the amount Trump's first-term tariffs erased from the U.S. job market, according to a 2021 study commissioned by the U.S.-China Business Council. The New York Federal Reserve is among those bearish on MAGA 2.0's economics. 'Firms expect conditions to worsen in the months ahead,' it said in its April survey of manufacturers, adding that those businesses showed 'a level of pessimism that has only occurred a handful of times in the history of the survey.' Ryan Petersen, CEO of the global logistics firm Flexport, said he fears tariffs will cause small businesses across the U.S. to collapse. 'Thousands, and then millions, of American small businesses, including many iconic brands, will go bankrupt this year if the tariff policies on China don't change,' he wrote on X.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tariffs Take Their Toll on Trucking
Trucking companies are beginning to bear the burden of President Donald Trump's tariffs on U.S. trade partners, and are cutting headcount and seeing decreased volumes as a result. Volvo Group North America could be laying off as many as 980 employees across three U.S. manufacturing plants over the next few months. More from Sourcing Journal IMF: Trump's Tariffs Have the Power to 'Significantly Slow Global Growth' Bangladesh Apparel Sector Says High Freight Costs Are a Policy Problem China Warns Other Nations That 'Appeasement Cannot Bring Peace' in Trade War With US 'Heavy-duty truck orders continue to be negatively affected by market uncertainty about freight rates and demand, possible regulatory changes and the impact of tariffs,' said a spokesperson at Volvo Group North America, in a statement. 'We regret having to take this action, but we need to align production with reduced demand for our vehicles.' A range of 430 to 530 employees will be laid off at the Volvo Trucks New River Valley plant in Dublin, Va. Their last day will be June 27, according to the spokesperson. Another 250 to 350 people at the company's Mack Trucks Lehigh Valley center in Macungie, Pa. will also see their employment cut. In Hagerstown, Md., 50 to 100 employees at the company's Powertrain facility will be affected. Volvo Group North America, which represents 29 percent of total 2024 sales at Volvo Group, employs 19,600 people and operates 16 manufacturing and 'remanufacturing' facilities across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The uncertainty created by the tariffs is expected to exacerbate demand concerns that have largely permeated across trucking since 2022, when the freight recession started and the freight-moving capacity well outpaced demand levels. The lack of demand has further applied downward pressure on freight rates—a foreboding sign for trucking companies. In Q2 2025, the truckload rate-per-mile index is projected to show a slight quarter-over-quarter decline to 5.5 percent, according to April's TD Cowen/AFS Freight Index—the ninth straight quarter with rates between just 4.3 percent and 5.9 percent above a 2018 baseline. 'A sustained shift toward shorter-haul shipments, defined as those of 500 miles or less, drove the total cost per shipment down to 5 percent above pre-pandemic levels—the lowest point in over three years, and indicative of a broader trend of more regional distribution and decentralized inventory positioning,' according to the index. Numerous trucking companies have ceased operations over the past month as the market tightens, including Florida-based Davis Express, Illinois-based LTI Trucking Services and Michigan's Equity Transportation Co. Two other businesses, Best Choice Trucking in Massachusetts and C & C Freight Network out of Georgia, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The trucking industry was largely bullish on the prospects of a second Trump administration, namely based on the president's platform for increased domestic manufacturing and reshoring. Trump's tariffs are designed to incentivize U.S. and foreign businesses alike to bring more production back to the U.S., Canada and Mexico. A manufacturing boom in North America would in theory mean more volumes moved domestically and across borders. With more demand filling up trucking capacity, freight rates on the road would improve, benefiting trucking firms. However, domestic manufacturing contracted in March after two months of expansion, according to the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Manufacturing Business Survey. Price growth on inputs accelerated due to the tariffs, causing new order placement backlogs and supplier delivery slowdowns. Additionally, the sheer steepness of the tariffs have created some barriers for trucking, especially the 25-percent duties levied on the U.S. neighbors for products not already compliant with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). North of the border, the Canadian Trucking Alliance says 70 percent of a carriers have seen loads to the U.S. either cancelled or paused. This includes commodities like lumber, oil, fertilizers, farming equipment, tires and food products. As many as 60 percent of Canadian trucking carriers said that a prolonged trade war could put their business operations at serious risk. 'Once capacity is drained from the cross-border sector, it will be dumped into the Canadian market, creating unsustainable business conditions and a nuclear winter for Canada-U.S. freight movement,' said CTA president and CEO Stephen Laskowski in a statement. Alternatively, counter-tariffs haven't has as much of an impact on Canadian imports from the U.S., as 70 percent of carriers report no impact on demand for northbound freight. The 145-percent duties slapped on China have been more extreme than even many industry experts previously imagined. As a result, the mass cancellation or postponement of orders out of China has resulted in plummeting freight numbers over the Pacific Ocean. With both the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach serving as major hubs for freight, truckers are anticipating fewer pickups of goods and ensuing deliveries. Overall, February freight appointments from ports, warehouses and distribution centers jumped 44 percent from January, according to dock appointment scheduling platform DataDocks. But the jump is presumably a byproduct of the pulling forward of goods ahead of the anticipated tariffs, as month-over-month numbers in March declined 15 percent. April's totals plummeted another 41 percent in an another indicator that trucking movement has largely cooled down. The sharpest declines in freight volume bookings for April, according to DataDocks, are in the Northwest (61 percent) and West (52 percent) regions—yet another gauge of the slowdowns on the West Coast. One major logistics and trucking firm, J.B. Hunt, was already seeing volume and revenue softness ahead of the West Coast's 'drying up' of cargo, illustrating the rough sledding many carriers were already facing ahead of the pause in international bookings. The company's truckload segment saw a tepid 2 percent increase in load volume, with the unit's revenue per load falling 6 percent from the year prior. 'The truckload market loosened as the quarter progressed,' said Spencer Frazier, executive vice president of sales and marketing at J.B. Hunt, in an earnings call earlier this month. 'This suggests truckload capacity continues to exceed demand.' 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Yahoo
19-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Volvo to lay off at least 250 more employees at New River Valley manufacturing plant
DUBLIN, Va. (WFXR) — Volvo Group North America confirmed to WFXR Saturday afternoon that it plans to lay off 250-350 employees at its New River Valley manufacturing plant in Dublin. In addition to layoffs at the Dublin plant, the company plans to cut 250-350 jobs at its Macungie, Pennsylvania site and 50-100 at its Hagerstown, Maryland location. The workforce reduction at the Dublin plant will take place over the next 90 days, according to Volvo. 'Heavy-duty truck orders continue to be negatively affected by market uncertainty about freight rates and demand, possible regulatory changes, and the impact of tariffs,' said Janie Coley, director of public relations for Volvo Group North America. This marks the second wave of layoffs in 2025 at the Dublin plant, after Volvo announced it would cut 250-350 jobs at that location in February. The company says it ultimately laid off around 180 employees during that round, meaning a total between 430 and 530 employees will have been impacted following the second round of cuts. 'We regret having to take this action, but we need to align production with reduced demand for our vehicles,' said Coley. According to Virginia Works, the commonwealth's workforce development agency, this is the fourth major job reduction at the Dublin plant since 2016. The company made cuts of 734 and 519 employees between two rounds in February 2016. Volvo also laid off 700 employees in January 2020, just before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Volvo to cut up to 800 US jobs as Trump's tariffs bite
By Chris Prentice NEW YORK (Reuters) - Volvo Group plans to lay off as many as 800 workers at three U.S. facilities over the next three months due to market uncertainty and demand concerns in the face of President Donald Trump's tariffs, a spokesperson said on Friday. Volvo Group North America said in a statement it has told employees it plans to lay off 550-800 people at its Mack Trucks site in Macungie, Pennsylvania, and two Volvo Group facilities in Dublin, Virginia, and Hagerstown, Maryland. The company, part of Sweden's AB Volvo, employs nearly 20,000 people in North America, according to its website. Trump has upended the global trading system that has been in place for over 75 years with a plan for tariffs on products from across the world. His vacillating trade policy has undermined consumer and business confidence, and caused economists to raise their forecasts for a U.S. recession. Volvo Group's lay-offs are the latest response from a car and truck industry that is reeling from the Republican president's tariffs on certain parts, which is expected to increase the cost of manufacturing vehicles. "Heavy-duty truck orders continue to be negatively affected by market uncertainty about freight rates and demand, possible regulatory changes, and the impact of tariffs," a spokesperson for Volvo Group North America said in an emailed statement. "We regret having to take this action, but we need to align production with reduced demand for our vehicles." Sign in to access your portfolio
Reuters
18-04-2025
- Automotive
- Reuters
Volvo to cut up to 800 US jobs as Trump's tariffs bite
NEW YORK, April 18 (Reuters) - Volvo Group plans to lay off as many as 800 workers at three U.S. facilities over the next three months due to market uncertainty and demand concerns in the face of President Donald Trump's tariffs, a spokesperson said on Friday. Volvo Group North America said in a statement it has told employees it plans to lay off 550-800 people at its Mack Trucks site in Macungie, Pennsylvania, and two Volvo Group facilities in Dublin, Virginia, and Hagerstown, Maryland. The company, part of Sweden's AB Volvo ( opens new tab, employs nearly 20,000 people in North America, according to its website. Trump has upended the global trading system that has been in place for over 75 years with a plan for tariffs on products from across the world. His vacillating trade policy has undermined consumer and business confidence, and caused economists to raise their forecasts for a U.S. recession. Volvo Group's lay-offs are the latest response from a car and truck industry that is reeling from the Republican president's tariffs on certain parts, which is expected to increase the cost of manufacturing vehicles. "Heavy-duty truck orders continue to be negatively affected by market uncertainty about freight rates and demand, possible regulatory changes, and the impact of tariffs," a spokesperson for Volvo Group North America said in an emailed statement. "We regret having to take this action, but we need to align production with reduced demand for our vehicles."
