So he’s hopeful that businesses can ride out rising costs while the tariffs do what they were designed to do: Level the playing field for U.S. steel producers.

“If at the end of this we can come up with some way to level the field a little more when it comes to the international supply of steel and that type of thing, I think it could be a good thing,” he said.

Hoffman, of Hoffman Manufacturing, sees a different kind of silver lining. But it doesn’t have anything to do with tariffs. He said he’s likely to see a windfall from the GOP tax bill passed late last year, the benefits of which fall largely to the wealthy.

“It’s going to have a huge benefit that will probably offset the higher material costs,” he said. “It’s great for me personally.”

But he doesn’t consider the “tax cuts for the rich,” as he calls them, to be good policy.

“The tax cuts don’t help any of my employees,” he said. “They’re not benefitting at all.”

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