South Carolina TV manufacturing plant closes -- and says Donald Trump's tariffs are to blame

A manufacturing plant in South Carolina recently announced that it's completely closing down in large part thanks to President Donald Trump's tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum.

According to South Carolina's The State, local manufacturer Element Electronics is laying off 126 employees and is shuttering its plant in the town of Winnsboro, South Carolina.

In particular, the plant said that its closure is due to "new tariffs that were recently and unexpectedly imposed on many goods imported from China, including the key television components used in our assembly operations in Winnsboro."

The closure of the plant is just the latest manufacturing employer to close down or leave Fairfield County, South Carolina, The State reports.

"The layoffs come a year after Cayce-based SCE&G and state-owned Santee Cooper canceled their decadelong effort to build two nuclear reactors at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in Jenkinsville, putting 5,000 construction workers out of work and wiping away a promised economic boon to the poor, rural county," the newspaper writes. "Element’s announcement also comes a year after Fairfield County’s last textile mill closed, eliminating 200 more jobs."

Democratic state Sen. Mike Fanning tells The State that the latest loss of jobs makes him feel like he's been "kicked in the gut," as he didn't think Fairfield County could get much lower than "rock bottom."