By: Erica Smith
Source: The Decatur Daily, Ala. (TNS)
Apr. 24—President Donald Trump’s tariffs hit home this week as the Morgan County Commission decided not to purchase a dump truck after the manufacturer added a tariff surcharge because many of the components come from outside the United States.
Morgan County District 2 Commissioner Matthew Frost was set to purchase a Peterbilt dump truck when the company added a $7,000 tariff fee to the purchase price.
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“I was going to buy a dump truck, but they can’t give me good price on it yet — tariffs,” Frost said. “Just waiting to see what they’re going to do with the tariffs. I want to know what the price is before I pay for it. ... They just said there’s going to be a tariff charge on there and that’s why I said I wasn’t buying it.”
At the April 8 Morgan County Commission meeting, before the tariff fee was added, the commission approved Frost’s purchase of a 2026 Peterbilt 536 Daycab from Fitzgerald Peterbilt in Huntsville for $146,615 out of his road and bridge fund.
“When we did the paperwork for him to go over and turn it in, they said they couldn’t do it now for that price because there was a $7,000 tariff fee,” said Morgan County Commission Chairman Ray Long.
Frost said he is not willing to pay the extra money, at least for now.
“If you give me a price, that’s what I want to stay with; I don’t want to pay extra,” Frost said.
At Tuesday’s commission meeting, the commission voted to rescind the resolution authorizing Frost to make the purchase.
“He couldn’t purchase it because we had voted on a price,” Long said. “The way we work, when we vote on a certain price, that’s the price it has to be.”
Long said the tariff surcharges will not last forever.
“In a few months, this whole thing will settle down, and you’ll know what the price is,” he said. “Trump puts a tariff on one day and suspends it the next. Back and forth. I know he has a strategy, and we have to trust him on it, but it makes it hard for local government to operate. When you have to vote on stuff and purchase stuff, it makes it hard on us to come to a decision. We just made the decision not to purchase right now at all.”
Frost said District 3 is not desperate for the dump truck.
“We’ve been doing without one for a while,” he said. “I was just getting it to help out, make it easier.”
The White House has imposed tariffs on much of the world, arguing that other countries have taken advantage of the U.S., as evidenced by its trade deficits. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on some tariffs, but increased tariffs on China to 145% while keeping separate ones as much as 25% on Canada, Mexico, autos, steel and aluminum.
With President Donald Trump’s tariffs either in effect or in limbo for other countries, companies are adjusting their prices. Some businesses, like Peterbilt, are introducing tariff surcharges, passing extra costs to U.S. consumers. In a survey by Zilliant research firm of 400 U.S. company leaders, 44% of those businesses plan to pass tariff costs onto the customer.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and the International Monetary Fund, along with many economists, have warned that tariffs will slow economic growth by suppressing consumer demand.
A representative from Fitzgerald Peterbilt of Huntsville said the parts to make their trucks come from all over the world, including China, and that the tariff surcharge may go from $7,000 to $10,000.
Jake Montero, Peterbilt general manager and PACCAR vice president, said in last week’s edition of Fleet Equipment, a trade journal, that they have concerns about the evolving tariff environment and its potential impact on their production and customer pricing.
Peterbilt is a part of PACCAR, which manufactures in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
“PACCAR has a flexible manufacturing strategy,” Montero told Fleet Equipment. “We build in all three countries ... and we have the flexibility for those factories. ... We can adapt to that strategy and use our flexible factories where needed, but we can’t predict the future, just kind of seeing how it all evolves.”
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