Trump deals deathblow to 100-year-old manufacturer

U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he speaks to the media before boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, U.S., en route to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, August 21, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci

A Connecticut manufacturing company that has operated for more than a century is finally closing its doors after being sent over the edge by President Donald Trump’s economic policies.

Its longtime owner cites “soaring business expenses and tariffs as key reasons for the decision,” reports NBC Connecticut.

“Leed-Himmel Industries, a custom aluminum manufacturing company based in Hamden, has been winding down operations after decades of serving customers,” NBC CT reports. “The closure did not come as a surprise to owner Howard Goldfarb.”

When NBC Connecticut visited the plant in 2024, Goldfarb was already warning reporters that rising expenses were biting an expanding hunk out of his business and putting pressure on it.

"It could get to the point where I just say, 'It's not worth doing anymore. All we're doing is working to pay the electrical bill,'" he told NBC Connecticut at the time.

Two years later, that prediction became reality, with Goldfarb declaring that costs had climbed too high as he walked through a largely empty factory floor.

"If our costs were where they were, say, eight years ago, I wouldn't have shut it down," Goldfarb told reporters.

Goldfarb’s factory was not only a stable source of jobs but also a considerable spring of revenue. The business paid about $160,000 annually in local property taxes. But Goldfarb said health insurance for workers kept rising, as did insurance for buildings, vehicles, and workers' compensation. The company's power bill topped $500,000 despite reduced operations.

But Goldfarb said the final blow came from the White House.

"Tariffs was the final nail in the coffin, if you will," he said, adding that tariffs increased the cost of aluminum and other materials while forcing him to tie up more cash in inventory purchases before customers paid their invoices.

The Supreme Court has already rejected Trump’s tariffs, calling them illegal because they lacked congressional authorization. But the president has continued to levy them despite not receiving legislative approval.

“President Trump’s repeated attempts to impose tariffs have become an encapsulation of his second term,” wrote the Times Editorial Board. “They have hurt the American economy and his own popularity. They also range from legally dubious to blatantly illegal.”

Goldfarb had almost managed to salvage some jobs by selling the company to a European buyer, but he said the buyer backed out after Trump unilaterally declared war on Iran. He said he is still trying to find a buyer for the Hamden facility and hopes it will remain a manufacturing site rather than being converted to storage space.

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