A storage safe manufacturer is closing two Chicago-area factories and moving operations to Mexico to counteract the effects of metal tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump’s administration.
The Chicago Tribune reports Stack-On Products will lay off about 150 people at its Wauconda and McHenry plants when they close Oct. 12.
Human resources director Al Fletcher said Tuesday the decision to relocate operations to Juarez, Mexico, was made about two months ago. That’s when Trump announced tariffs on numerous goods and materials from China as well as other countries.
Stack-On makes products ranging from tool boxes to gun vaults.
Fletcher says the company has a plant in China and another in Mexico, and its only U.S. factories were the two in the Chicago area.
