The tariff debate has tended to live in the realm of abstraction for people in the Acela Corridor. But for those of us desperately fighting to preserve generational American manufacturing businesses, the effects are anything but theoretical.

My family has been in the tool-making business in West Virginia for more than 170 years. But the underlying market forces in my case are not all that different from those affecting pharmaceuticals or automotives: Years of escalating and outrageous labor practices, anticompetitive foreign government subsidies and inconsistent trade regimes have made it almost impossible for American-made goods to compete with imported products, even in U.S. retail environments.

For too long, cheap imports of all manner — often subsidized and subpar — have undercut the integrity and pricing of American-made products. Tariffs have begun to correct that imbalance, giving companies like ours a fighting chance.

That kind of change doesn’t happen in a vacuum. While many tariffs in the first wave have been modified, the administration’s trade posture signals to suppliers, buyers and foreign competitors that the U.S. government is willing to intervene when markets tilt too far in favor of cheap imports. Companies like ours have competed for years not just against foreign products, but against foreign policies such as subsidies, lax labor laws and environmental and health regulations that keep costs artificially low.

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