Industrial Manufacturing M&A Hits Record High - Circle July 24: The 10% Tariff Expires and Its Replacement Could Cost You More

The Section 122 blanket 10% tariff expires July 24, and USTR has proposed replacing it with a 10% or 12.5% Section 301 tariff on products from roughly 60 countries named in its forced-labor investigation. The proposed tariffs are narrower than the ones struck down by the Supreme Court, exempting many foods, aircraft and electronics parts, and goods under the Canada/Mexico free-trade agreements, but the rate on covered goods could tick up, and Brazil faces a separate proposed 25% tariff.

🔍 Why it matters:

If you import components or materials, the next three weeks are a planning window, not a waiting period. Goods will likely need to arrive before July 24 to qualify for the current 10% rate rather than a potentially higher Section 301 rate. Talk to your customs broker now about what's on the water, what can be accelerated, and whether your inputs fall under the exemption lists. Owners who pull shipments forward could lock in real savings; those who don't may be repricing quotes in August.

Insight: S&P 500 Industrials closed at 1,559 this week, up 2.2% Thursday and trading near its 52-week high, investor confidence in the sector remains strong heading into earnings season.

📊 June PMI Holds Expansion at 53.3 — and Input Prices Just Took Their Biggest Monthly Drop Since 2022

Manufacturing expanded for a sixth straight month in June. New Orders came in at 56, with four of the six largest industries, Computer & Electronic Products, Machinery, Transportation Equipment, and Chemical Products, reporting increased new orders and demand comments running 2.7-to-1 positive. The headline for your margins: input prices fell 9.1 points to 73.0, the largest single-month decline since July 2022, and the employment index hit its highest level since January 2025. Costs are still elevated, 15 of 18 industries report paying more, but the pressure is finally easing.

Read the full report at ISM →

🏭 Iowa Opens AMP'D Training Grants: Up to $250K Per Employer to Upskill Your Floor

Iowa Workforce Development began accepting applications June 29 for its new Advanced Manufacturing Pathways Development (AMP'D) grant. Eligible manufacturers can be reimbursed for up to 80% of training costs for new or current employees, up to $4,000 per employee and $250,000 per employer, for employer-designed programs targeting production, machine maintenance, and other skill gaps. A second informational webinar runs July 7. Not in Iowa? It's worth a call to your own state workforce board, programs like this (and the federal $3,500-per-apprentice incentive fund) are multiplying fast.

Read the full story at IWD →

🏭 Family-Owned Janicki Industries Bets $800M on Great Falls, Montana

Aerospace and defense composites manufacturer Janicki Industries, a privately held, family-run precision machining and fabrication shop, selected Great Falls for its next manufacturing campus: 2 million square feet built out over the next decade, 1,000 jobs in the first five years and more than 2,000 at completion. Construction starts this month, with the first phase opening by the end of 2027. President John Janicki framed the move around building a place where employees can buy homes and raise families, a reminder that workforce strategy and site selection are now the same conversation.

Read the full story at IndustrySelect →

🛡️ Lockheed's $35B THAAD Deal Signals a New Era for the Defense Supply Chain

The government awarded Lockheed Martin a seven-year contract worth up to $35 billion to quadruple THAAD interceptor production — one of the first full-scale multiyear procurements executed under the Department of War's new Acquisition Transformation Strategy. The story for mid-sized shops isn't the prime: it's that multiyear framework agreements are replacing year-to-year contracting, giving primes long-visibility demand they'll need to flow down to machine shops, fabricators, and component suppliers. If defense work is on your radar, supplier qualification just got more valuable.

Read the full story at PR Newswire →

📊 This Week's Chart

Insight: New orders remained firmly in expansion territory in June at 56, the sixth consecutive month of growth — demand is holding up even as the pace of production cools slightly.

Source: Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED)

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See you next week,

The Factory Wire