By Steve Dillett
Oct. 30, 2026
Over the past week, we’ve seen the resurgence of the concept of a “Fortress North America” being pushed by trade groups that have a foot on each side of our northern border.
Manufacturing plants and the jobs that come with them can make or break communities. Entire Chicago communities were built around industrial manufacturing facilities that not only provided family-supporting jobs, but served as anchors for the community. Over the last couple of decades, we have seen the impact of this base being hollowed out from the closure of facilities to instability created by relying on foreign supply chains.
Today, as military interventions in Iraq, Ukraine and around the world continue to impact nearly every segment of the economy, the United States confronts growing questions about supply chain security. The strength of domestic manufacturing can make the difference between whether critical materials are available when they’re needed, or at all.
During my 40 years leading Custom Aluminum Products, I have seen the impact we have on our community. We are a family business in every sense of the term. Fathers and sons have worked side-by-side on our production floor. We’ve even had three generations of the same family employed at the same time. We invest in our employees through internships, full college scholarships and career opportunities that allow people to build a future for themselves and their families.
I have also seen the risks our community, and economy, bear when we depend on foreign supply chains for products that can be made in America. Custom Aluminum Products produces aluminum extrusions, which is an industry term that essentially means we manufacture pieces of aluminum that become foundational material for things like commercial buildings, electrical infrastructure and transportation equipment. Despite a strong demand for aluminum extrusions today, manufacturers like us are competing against something that threatens to supersede productivity and hard work. We are competing against governments that subsidize production, distorting global markets and exploiting loopholes in our North American trade agreements.
Imports of aluminum extrusions from Mexico into the United States increased by 46 percent between 2021 and 2024. This isn’t due to a sudden surge in efficiency or production by Mexican extruders. Instead, China, India, and a bevy of countries from Southeast Asia and the Middle East that are subject to U.S. foreign trade duties, have found opportunities to avoid the duties in Mexico. This practice, identified as transshipment by the White House in August, is designed to avoid U.S. trade duties and law.
That surge has provided Mexican extruders unfettered access to artificially cheap aluminum from heavily distorted markets.This has produced plant closures, layoffs due to shifts in production to Mexico, and lost investment throughout the American aluminum extrusion industry.
From agricultural equipment and consumer electronics to the automotive, building supplies and lighting industries, we have all seen the impact of once proud Chicago companies offshore production. Behind every closure and statistic are skilled workers, families, and communities paying the price for unfair trade. In Chicago in particular, the erosion of our industrial manufacturing base has removed the stability that once anchored communities.
This isn’t just a Chicago or aluminum extrusion problem either. American manufacturers have faced unfair competition from foreign governments that subsidize production and manipulate prices, exploiting loopholes in the former United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Among these was the so-called “valuation loophole,” which allowed countries subject to trade duties to ship near-finished products to Mexico, where a willing company could perform minimal processing. Under this arrangement, importers paid duties based only on the value of the raw materials, enabling foreign manufacturers to circumvent trade protections and undercut American producers.
Thankfully, President Trump issued an executive order earlier this year closing this valuation loophole, requiring greater scrutiny of goods entering the United States through North American trading partners and strengthening measures to prevent duty evasion. These steps help reinforce the integrity of North American trade and support free and fair competition for American manufacturers operating within the law.
As the Trump administration negotiates historic trade deals with Canada and Mexico, it is imperative we learn from the failed policies of the past. From the hardworking men and women of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection on the front lines to those negotiating the minutiae of trade policies, we must stand firm against American job-killing trade exemptions for Mexico and Canada and loopholes that have allowed transshipment to take root.
American voters and the manufacturing community will be watching this fall. Lax enforcement and trade concessions will continue the exodus of Chicago’s industrial base. Getting it right, will support the family-supporting jobs that give Chicagoans the stability they need for our communities to thrive.
