NLMK says it continues to be hurt by tariffs and steel quotas, which will cause more layoffs at the Farrell plant.

NLMK is a steel processing plant that relies on a supply of 10-inch steel slabs to produce its product for global customers. The problem is, U.S. suppliers cannot provide the quantity of slabs it needs.

"To run this plant full, we need 140,000 to 160,000  tons per month of slabs. Domestically, we can get about 10,000 tons a month. Not nearly enough," said Executive Vice President James Banker.

So the company has to buy more material off-shore and pay the 25 percent Trump tariff.

"The last time it was up to $177 million that we've paid in tariffs, and we believe we paid erroneously," Banker said.

According to Banker, a quota system also cuts off the supply of slabs every quarter, and that forces layoffs at the plant.
"So we're going to shut down our hot strip mill here, and the employees will get sent home, they will be laid off for two weeks."

Banker says the end result of who is being hurt is not just the company; it's the local economy.

"When our people are getting hurt, the whole community is getting hurt," he said. With the tariffs and new trade agreements, Banker says NLMK is put at a disadvantage. 

"Canada and Mexico are free to buy slabs on the world market and turn that into steel flat-rolled products and send it into this country tariff-free," said Banker.

The company's application for exclusion from the tariffs was denied, but NLMK feels the Commerce Department did not fairly consider the underpinnings of the company's situation. Now the company is seeking relief in a lawsuit filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade.

"We've tried all other remedies, and we've exhausted them. We feel the facts are on our side, so we have to pursue it through the courts,"  Banker said.

NLMK has more than 800 employees in Mercer county, and Banker says it hopes to win back the tariff fees and return to normal operations.