Pennsylvania truck company blames tariffs as it announces huge layoffs

Mack Trucks will lay off between 250 and 350 workers at its Lehigh Valley Operations center outside Allentown over the next three months, due to economic uncertainty caused by U.S. tariffs, a company spokesperson said Thursday.

“Heavy-duty truck orders continue to be negatively affected by market uncertainty about freight rates and demand, possible regulatory changes, and the impact of tariffs,” spokesperson Kimberly Pupillo said.

“Today we informed our employees that this unfortunately means we’ll have to lay off 250-350 people at LVO over the next 90 days,” Pupillo said. “We regret having to take this action, but we need to align production with reduced demand for our vehicles.”

Union leaders announced the company had confirmed layoffs Thursday afternoon. The plant in Macungie employs around 1,200 workers.

“Due to the market being in decline, there will be a rate and line reduction. I have heard all the same rumors you guys have heard. This is the first time I have an official word from the company that there will be a layoff,” United Auto Workers Local 677 shop chair Tim Hertzog said in a letter posted on the union’s Facebook page Thursday.

State Rep. Josh Siegel (D-Lehigh) said the layoffs are “a clear signal of the dangerous economic instability being fueled by the Trump administration’s chaotic tariff policies.”

“The tariffs — erratic, broad and poorly targeted — are crushing core U.S. industries like trucking and manufacturing. Supply chains are snarled, costs are soaring, and confidence among employers is collapsing,” Siegel said in a news release.

President Donald Trump said on the campaign trail last year that tariffs would return manufacturing to the United States and generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the U.S. Treasury.

At the beginning of April, Trump announced tariffs on products imported from other countries beginning a universal 10% duty and increasing with additional reciprocal tariffs as high as 50% against countries with large trade deficits or other barriers to exports.

The announcement sparked a massive stock market sell-off that erased trillions of dollars in value that was followed by the largest single-day increase when Trump announced a 90-day reprieve for most countries. He doubled down on tariffs for Chinese imports, raising the duties to 125%.

Siegel called on U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-7th District), whose district includes the Lehigh County Mack plant, and Senators John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) to “take back Congress’s constitutional authority on trade and end this economic sabotage before more livelihoods are lost.”