Vice President Mike Pence made a stop Wednesday at a welding and machine shop in Duluth. The vice president said the company’s success and the region’s economic growth show the Trump administration’s policies are working.
Pence made the remarks at Industrial Weldors & Machinists, Inc.. Pence said President Donald Trump’s tax cuts have allowed such companies like Industrial Weldors to reinvest in workers, noting company leaders are contributing $4,000 more each year to employee pensions. In a live broadcast on KBJR-TV, Pence also said the president’s commitment to regulatory reform and developing energy resources has resulted in job growth for the Twin Ports.
“Since President Trump and I took office, we couldn’t be more proud of the fact that mining and mining-related industries have added nearly 2,000 jobs in the Duluth area alone,” said Pence. “Mining is back in Minnesota and America.”
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The vice president said the mining industry employs more than 4,000 workers in northern Minnesota and supports around 11,000 jobs in the region. The Iron Mining Association of Minnesota has provided similar statistics while the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development reported around 6,700 mining and logging jobs statewide as of June.
Pence indicated the Trump administration’s steel and aluminum tariffs are helping revive steel mills in the Midwest and demand for iron in the region. The vice president also referred to rolling back Obama-era decisions not to renew mining leases over controversial plans to build a copper-nickel mine near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The U.S. Interior Department reversed that decision in May of this year.
“This president is rolling back the ban and we are clearing the way as we speak for new mines to bring not just Minnesota iron but nickel and copper forward for the American economy,” he said.
The move is just another example of the administration’s policy to extract natural resources to promote growth and competitiveness as part of Trump’s plans to enhance national security.
The vice president was making the rounds in Duluth and Grand Rapids, Michigan, rallying support for republicans ahead of this fall’s midterm elections.
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