Sheridan manufacturers brace for tariffs, economic impacts

SHERIDAN — The Trump Administration’s decision to raise tariffs on imported goods is meant to stimulate American-based production and domestic investment. But local manufacturing businesses and their customers may see adverse effects before positive change is possible.

“Manufacturing is going to be hit hard,” said Anne Alexander, an economist and assistant dean at the University of Wyoming College of Business. “Things like terraform steel and aluminum and specialty components are going to drive up their costs, and they'll either have to absorb those costs or pass them on to customers or seek alternative suppliers.”

Tariffs — taxes charged on goods imported to the United States from other countries — have been a common economic practice for centuries. But Alexander said President Trump’s tariffs differ in both size and scope.

All countries have a baseline 10% tariff rate on imported products, but Trump chose to target certain markets and countries. Steel and aluminum products, for example, have a 25% import tax. The U.S. also imposed a 25% tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico and a 145% tariff on goods from China, according to an April article from the BBC.

While past tariffs imposed on China by previous administrations decreased the U.S.’s reliance on Chinese goods (with China moving from 21% of America’s total imports in 2016 to 13% in  2024), the U.S. still operates in a trade deficit with China. In 2024, China imported only $145 billion in American goods, while the U.S. imported $440 billion, BBC reported.

Forcing companies to seek cheaper prices domestically could increase local production, but Alexander said the tariffs can only be a positive if there are very significant reshoring efforts. In the meantime, Alexander said higher prices are a reality.

“I like a level playing field. I definitely do. This is a very unusual way to get to it,” Alexander said. “In the long run, policies that strengthen things like innovation and competitiveness and global access will actually help Wyoming workers and businesses a lot more.”

Alexander describes Wyoming as a state that “produces more than it consumes.”

According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, Wyoming depends on world markets. In 2024, Wyoming exported $401 million in goods to its largest market, Canada, along with $245 million in goods to Chile and $127 million to China.

“Our key industries like agriculture, mining and energy and manufacturing — they rely heavily on exports,” Alexander said. “And so when trade tensions escalate, our producers are kind of in the crossfire.”

Several Sheridan-based manufacturing companies said the increased tariffs have not gone unnoticed, though the effects aren’t felt in full yet.

“The tariff conversation is not straightforward, especially as we do not know where it will land,” said Brenda Weatherby, director of people and culture at the gun manufacturing company Weatherby, Inc. “ We keep fighting one day at a time to make great products and employ great people. If it’s not tariffs, it’s something else, so we continue to adjust and move forward.”

At Vacutech, a vacuum cleaning system manufacturing company, Director of Operations David Fehrenbacher said the company expects to see an impact in the next 90 days.

“It should have minimal overall impact,” Fehrenbacher said. “We do very little overseas purchasing because we’ve always been pretty proud of being sourced in the U.S.A.”

Fehrenbacher said overseas products account for 1% of the company’s spend, but he predicts a change in the supply and demand of his U.S.-based suppliers, potentially resulting in higher prices when Vacutech purchases these supplies.

“Our domestic suppliers will likely feel an influx of other manufacturers seeking their product to avoid the tariffs,” Fehrenbacher said. “With their increase in demand, we will be competing with other U.S. manufacturers.”

Becky Cooper, CEO of aviation manufacturing company Kennon Products, said she’s received multiple emails a week for almost a month notifying her of price increases anywhere from 5% to 15%.

“Almost all of our supplies, not 100% but definitely the majority, are sourced from within the United States,” Cooper said. “So we’re not directly hit by those tariffs, but our suppliers are purchasing, whether it’s hardware or materials, from overseas.”

“We’ve already experienced pretty notable, sizable increases in our material and equipment costs,” she added. “We started to receive multiple emails a week I would say maybe a month ago… notifying us of increases anywhere from 5 to 15%. And so we get a couple of those notifications every week now.”

Cooper said the company is experiencing more indirect impacts of the tariffs, but it still will raise customer pricing.

“We’re monitoring it pretty closely, but there’s only so long that you can absorb those costs without ultimately affecting the business,” she said. “We like to make sure that our pricing reflects the value of the product, so when we’re pinched in the middle like that, we have to just transfer costs to the customers. It’s not something we’re happy about.”

This story was published on April 30, 2025.