MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Carmakers trying to avoid tariffs can buy more American products to put in their vehicles. But first, they need to meet U.S. companies manufacturing everything from raw steel to finished parts. Stephan Bisaha of the Gulf States Newsroom reports on one option, speed dating.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Come on in, find your buyers, have a seat, and happy selling.
STEPHAN BISAHA, BYLINE: The ballrooms in Huntsville, Alabama's Von Braun Center aren't exactly romantic. There are the fluorescent lights, those gray conference room dividers. And with more than 180 sellers, it's pretty loud. But one thing it does have in common with actual dating are the jitters.
So how's the speed dating been going?
JACK GRACE: Nerve-racking.
BISAHA: Jack Grace is the director of sales for Landrum Workforce Management, which provides staffing and consulting. He's nervous because....
GRACE: You get five minutes to either get it right or not get it right.
BISAHA: And, yeah, that's the way it goes. Five minutes for sellers like Grace to pitch many of the biggest carmakers in the South like Honda, Mercedes and Hyundai until...
(SOUNDBITE OF DEVICE BEEPING)
BISAHA: The beep means it's on to the next date. The Southern Automotive Conference has been doing this matchmaking event for 13 years. The big idea here is making networking easier. And Grace says it works.
GRACE: Having this environment where it's very distilled, albeit a little chaotic, is really interesting.
BISAHA: The big talking point this year is tariffs. President Trump put a 25% tariff on most cars and auto parts, though, there's recently been some relief for cars assembled in the U.S. The goal is getting carmakers to move more of their supply chain to the United States to avoid tariffs. That's one of the reasons why Marlena Mellenthin is here representing the joint Mazda Toyota factory in Alabama.
MARLENA MELLENTHIN: We're looking for ways that we can maybe save money with tariffs being what they are now. So we're just open to whatever's out there.
BISAHA: Of course, it's American companies eating the tariff costs, too, like Baxter Enterprises out of Tennessee. The company sells tools and finished goods to automakers like Mercedes. But Doug Drake's representing Baxter today as a buyer. The cost of the raw materials he gets from overseas are just starting to go up because of tariffs.
DOUG DRAKE: I'm seeing anywhere from 15% to 50%, depending on what it is.
BISAHA: Fifteen to 50%? Fifty percent is pretty high.
DRAKE: Yeah. Yeah. On some of the metal clips and components, yeah, it's 50%.
BISAHA: Still, tariffs have not hit the industry as hard as expected, and the manufacturers here are not rushing to overhaul their supply chains. But they're still putting themselves out there. Drake wants to make sure if he does switch to an American supplier, it's someone who'll actually want to work with.
DRAKE: I like to be able to shake hands with them, meet them face-to-face. I can get a feel generally for their personality.
BISAHA: Does personality matter in the manufacturing world?
DRAKE: Does to me (laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF DEVICE BEEPING)
CHRIS MILLER: Chris Miller.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Nice to meet you.
MILLER: Pleasure to meet you.
BISAHA: Chris Miller is with Olympic Steel out of Georgia. He's here seeing if buyers want the steel and some of the other materials he's got to sell. And if not, well, sometimes a five-minute meeting is more like a one-minute meeting.
MILLER: Or under a one-minute meeting (laughter). So it's kind of like you kind of can get that feel pretty quick.
BISAHA: The thing is, even with the tariff boost, breaking into a car company supply chain is just hard. It could take years for a supplier to get their parts onto an actual car.
MILLER: Perfect. Thank you so much for your time. Pleasure.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Thank you for your time.
BISAHA: Hey, so last meeting. How did it go?
MILLER: Went good.
BISAHA: Yeah?
MILLER: Yeah, got a card. And that could be a potential good one.
BISAHA: And that's what Miller is looking for today, a chance for a longer second date, because when it comes to changing up supply chains, even the car world takes things slow.
For NPR News, I'm Stephan Bisaha in Huntsville, Alabama.
(SOUNDBITE OF JEAN-PHI GONCALVES' "DANCE AND ANGELA (TRIP-HOP VERSION)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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