US candy company joins Trump's 'Made in America' initiative

Made in America President Donald Trump hosted a product showcase at the White House Monday featuring items from all 50 states to kick off “Made in America” week.

In an interview on FOX Business, Kimmie Candy Company CEO Joe Dutra said Trump’s Made in America initiative will allow other companies to realize the importance of U.S. manufacturing.

“[Trump] talked about how it’s a trickle down affect. Every dollar we pay in wages gets put back into the local economies and so it helps grocery stores and different companies that are producing goods for our workers and it’s just good for the economy and the community,” he said.

Despite increasing costs and regulatory fears, the third generation farmer decided to move Kimmie Candy’s South Korean offshore manufacturing operations to Reno, Nevada in 2004 where it has been able to create jobs and boost its sales.

“President Trump is trying to make it easier for us to bring companies back onshore,” Dutra said. “You know it’s very simple to say, ‘you know, we don’t care what happens in trade,’ but it affects small businesses like mine.”

According Dutra, rolling back some of the Obama-era regulations has made it a “little easier” to do business in US. However, the Kimmie Candy Company CEO urges the Trump Administration to lower the corporate tax rate in order to further help small businesses.

“[Trump]’s gotta reduce, somehow, taxes on corporations like ours so that we have a little extra money to reinvest into the business,” he said.