WASHINGTON, DC – During a Senate Finance Committee hearing, U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) today shared with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, the negative impacts the administration’s steel and aluminum tariffs are having on Kansas’s small business community.

Mike Bergmeier, the owner and operator of Shield Agriculture Equipment, a small business in South Hutchinson, Kansas, recently contacted Senator Roberts about the rising costs his business is experiencing due to steel tariffs. ShieldAg designs, manufactures and distributes tillage tools and hardware.

Bergmeier’s company uses steel from Manitoba, Canada, to make their Shield V-Blades, a key component of blade plows that farmers use for conservation efforts across the High Plains. Due to the lack of supply in the United States, ShieldAg submitted a steel exemption request from the Department of Commerce. They are currently awaiting the department’s determination. In the absence of an exemption, ShieldAg will have no choice but to pass the rising cost of production onto customers, primarily farmers and ranchers.

“What will the impact of tariffs on steel and aluminum be?” asked Senator Roberts. “Well, Mike Bergmeier knows, as do many small and medium sized enterprises, who are seeing price increases now and have been for months. These businesses are paying the price for the administration’s negotiating strategy.”

Roberts urged Secretary Ross to call Mr. Bergmeier to hear first-hand the tough choices small and medium sized businesses are making due to tariffs.

For audio and video from the hearing, click here.