Syracuse manufacturer wins export award while facing tariff pressure

Morse Manufacturing is being recognized for reaching buyers in more than 55 countries, but the same global trade ties that helped the Syracuse company grow are now making it harder to keep that growth going. The 103-year-old maker of drum-handling equipment is facing tariff pressure on the products it sells for paint, cosmetics, food, chemicals and other liquids, a reminder that trade policy can hit an Onondaga County employer as directly as any local tax or utility bill.

The company was named the SBA Syracuse District Exporter of the Year during National Small Business Week, which ran May 3-9, and State Sen. Christopher J. Ryan later honored Morse with an Empire Award on May 7. Morse, which says it has more than 60 drum-handling products and more than 30 employees focused on drum, barrel and pail equipment, has built a business where exports matter. A regional SBDC post says international sales accounted for nearly 19% of total revenue in 2024, a share that shows how much the company depends on overseas demand.

Nathan Andrews, Morse’s president and third-generation owner, said manufacturing has been a struggle in recent years and described tariffs as a mixed bag. For a company like Morse, that means tariffs can help some domestic producers in the short run while also making imported components more expensive, complicating supply chains and raising the price of finished equipment in foreign markets. For a small manufacturer that sells specialized industrial gear, even modest cost increases can affect orders, hiring and the ability to compete against overseas rivals.

Morse’s history stretches back to 1923, when J. Mott Morse founded the company making custom metal parts and stampings. It later shifted into drum-handling equipment and operated in East Syracuse from 1953 until moving in 2019 to 103 Kuhn Road in Salina. The company invested $7.5 million to renovate a 120,000-square-foot building there, with about 90,000 square feet in use for production at the time of the grand opening.

That local footprint matters in Onondaga County, where legacy manufacturers still help define the region’s economy and reputation. Morse’s survival through the Great Depression, recessions and COVID has already marked it as durable, but the current test is different. Tariffs, export access and pricing pressure now sit alongside the company’s century-old manufacturing record, shaping whether one of Syracuse’s longtime industrial names can keep selling, investing and hiring far beyond Central New York.