WASHINGTON Local businessman tells Voinovich of struggles

The businessman and three others also met with the secretary of commerce.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- David Johnson, Summitville Tiles president, is hoping that people in high places can help his struggling business.
Johnson, a prominent local political donor and former Columbiana County Republican chairman, was among four Ohio manufacturing company owners to be invited Tuesday by U.S. Sen. George Voinovich, a fellow Republican, to a private two-hour meeting with U.S. Commerce Secretary Donald Evans in Washington, D.C.
Johnson said he was encouraged by the meeting, and is hopeful the federal government can do something to help Summitville Tiles, based in Columbiana County, and companies like it that have been struggling because of foreign imports.
"It was a very substantive and frank discussion," Johnson said during a telephone interview after the meeting in Voinovich's office. "I shared the concerns about my company. We are fighting tooth and nail to save our company. We are fighting for survival."
Johnson's tile company employed 600 people two years ago but is down to fewer than 300 workers today. Also, Summitville had to close half of its four plants in the past two years.
"It is because of foreign imports and the misguided trade policies of our country that have been adopted over the past 15 years," Johnson said. "We've been forced to downsized our company to a core base of products. Specialized products are our focus. We are working to stabilize our company."
A look at tariffs
Johnson said his company pays tariffs between 42 percent and 62 percent to ship goods to China, while Chinese companies pay tariffs of about 11 percent to sell their merchandise in the United States. Also, Johnson said China subsidizes many of its companies, and the companies don't pay livable wages.
"It's a very big inequity," he said. "The secretary of commerce took notice of that. We need to increase tariffs from Chinese companies."
Reforming the health-care industry and getting the Chinese government to stop undervaluing its currency will help the manufacturing industry stem losses, Voinovich told the Associated Press.
Nationally, 2.6 million manufacturing jobs have been lost since Bush took office, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Ohio has lost 150,700 manufacturing jobs during that time.
Evans was not willing to commit to any of the requests from the manufacturing executives, but Johnson said he is encouraged that the commerce secretary listened to the suggestions.
skolnick@vindy.com