Page 24 - EDM Today Spring 2025

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the mold beat

Driving the industry pulse

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At the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025, 54 percent of manufacturers surveyed in the AMBA 2025
Business Forecast Report reported the anti cipated or realized reshoring of business (as illustrated in the
featured chart), demonstrati ng the positi ve eff ect that even limited
tariff s have had on business over the last few years.
U.S. Moldmakers – Reshored Work
Won or Anticipated (Q1 2025)
As tariff s have begun to play an even bigger role in recent days,
many in the U.S. mold manufacturing community are applauding
the government’s recent trade moves, as they have realized an 22% 32%
immediate rise in quoti ng and already anti cipate a rise in business.
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As stated by Hillary Thomas, Westminster Tool Vice President,
“The manufacturing tariff s imposed by President Trump and his
47%
administrati on have benefi ted our business, similar to the wide-
scale tariff eff ort in 2018. Following the recent announcement, our
quote requests rose 25% in one month. These tariff s, parti cularly
Yes
against China and other internati onal competi tors, help level the
global manufacturing playing fi eld for the moldmaking industry. We
strongly support and encourage to maintain internati onal tariff s that No
Not yet, but anticipate winning
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promote manufacturing here in the country.”
reshored business in the future.
Beyond direct testi monials from AMBA members, the celebrati on of such trade moves has been
confi rmed with the most recent publishing of the Gardner Business Index (GBI), which shared a patt ern
of conti nued growth in business conditi ons over the last sixth months. Not only is this the most positi ve
performance of the Moldmaking Index since Q1-Q2 of 2022; the Future Business Index - which predicts
anti cipated business conditi ons - reports even stonger conditi ons to come, expressing the rising opti mism
felt by many industry executi ves*.

volatile conditions STOKE INSTABILITY, UNCERTAINTY IN GLOBAL ECONOMY
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Although the recent tariff s applied to Chinese goods are welcomed by many domesti c moldmakers,
there’s no questi on that conditi ons remain volati le for the American manufacturing supply chain. The
possibility of tariff s on global trading partners has spiked uncertainty for American consumers and some
confusion within the business community. For example, as of publicati on, the University of Michigan -
in its preliminary results for April 2025 - reported that consumer senti ment (across all ages, incomes,
politi cal affi liati ons and other factors) fell 11 percent from March 2025**.

*Ref.: Shirk, Mike. “Moldmaking Index Conti nues Strong 2025 with 52.4 in March.” MoldMaking Technology, January 13, 2025.
htt ps://www.moldmakingtechnology.com/arti cles/moldmaking-index-conti nues-strong-2025-with-524-in-march.
**Ref.: University of Michigan. Surveys of Consumers. Insti tute for Social Research. Accessed April 15, 2025. htt ps://www.sca.
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isr.umich.edu/.
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