A Syracuse company named Small Business Administration’s Exporter of the Year last week has weathered several economic ups and downs in its 103-year history, most recently navigating the challenge of tariffs.
The small factory on the city’s north side makes heavy duty equipment used to handle large drums for paint, cosmetics, food, chemicals, and other liquids.
“If you look at manufacturing metrics, it's a struggle and has been for a couple of years now.," said Nathan Andrews, the third-generation owner and president of Morse. As an exporter, tariffs figure heavily into his business.
“Tariffs are a mixed bag. No doubt about it," he said. "We were, frankly, very excited at first when the tariffs came out, because we have long fought against Chinese-imported versions of our products for 30-plus years now. But it didn't play out as we expected.”
He said some dealers manipulated pricing so they could continue to sell imported and inferior versions of the same products. The export side has also been difficult.
“The counter tariffs on some of our products, especially into Canada and Mexico, have adversely affected our sales," Andrews said. "So domestically, we've been able to, I wouldn't say thrive, but we're exceeding the market in expectations. But it's been a challenge to develop an export market in light of a tariff market.”
Andrews said Morse has tried to stay out of the politics of tariffs and instead lean into connections with established, trusted partners to manage the dramatic swings in global markets.
“That's how we've gotten to where we are today is on a foundation of strong relationships among our dealers, among our suppliers, among our end users, and I'm confident that's what's going to take us into the future," he said.
Andrews said he feels the weight of his 50 employees and their families on his shoulders as he tries to steer his family’s company through the latest wave of economic uncertainty.
