Cue sad trombone: Hedge fund billionaire John Paulson — a major Trump donor and tariff advocate — is closing his Ohio brass instrument plant and outsourcing the work to China, according to a new report.
Paulson’s company, Conn Selmer, the nation’s top maker of brass and orchestral instruments, has notified employees that it will move most operations at its East Lake plant to Asia by July, prompting about 150 layoffs, The Guardian reported.
Employees were informed of the decision last month, when they expected to negotiate a new union contract, according to United Auto Workers Local 2359, which represents the workers.
Employees said the company unveiled a new plant in China in 2025, and that work has slowly shifted to that location. However, workers in Ohio had previously been told that their jobs were not in jeopardy.
Workers there expressed great displeasure with the decision, with one saying, “It really gets me,” while another said they felt “betrayed.”
A representative for Conn Selmer confirmed that, if a “tentative decision” is finalized, the firm will move some production out of the country, according to the outlet.
A company spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Independent.
Paulson — who is worth about $4 billion, according to Forbes — has been supporting the Republican President for years.
During Trump’s first presidential campaign, Paulson served as an economic adviser, raising $50 million for the president at a 2024 fundraiser in Florida. He was also selected to serve as treasury secretary, a position that was eventually given to another hedge fund investor: Scott Bessent.
Paulson also expressed support for Trump’s tariff agenda. Shortly before the 2024 election, he said Traffic lights that a 10 to 20 percent tariff to boost American manufacturing would be reasonable.
“It would result in higher import prices,” he said. “But on the other hand, it supports domestic manufacturing, so you have more jobs, more investment in the United States, more taxes.”
Two months earlier, Paulson told CNBC that Trump’s tariff plans were “well founded.”
He also publicly opposed moving jobs abroad. “We can’t have American producers closing American factories and relocating,” he told the outlet. “We need to protect American jobs and protect American manufacturing,”
Robert Hines, president of UAW Local 2359 and a worker at the Conn-Selmer plant in Ohio, said Paulson’s latest decision smacks of hypocrisy.
“To go publicly on CNBC to support the Trump administration’s positive views on tariffs and all that stuff, and then turn around and [say you] you have to go send the work straight to China,” Hines said The Guardian. “It’s a slap in the face.”