Staying ‘Prayerful’ (Editorial)

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Economic development news is almost always a “good news/bad” proposition. And so it was last week in Arkansas.

The good: Czech gun-maker CZ-USA is locating its North American headquarters in Little Rock, building a $90 million production facility at the Little Rock Port that will eventually employ 565 workers.

The bad: The trade war between the United States and China has put a crimp in Shandong Ruyi’s plans to build a $410 million textile plant in Forrest City employing 800.

Both developments illustrate the importance of foreign investment to Arkansas. China, in particular, has invested much in the state’s economy in recent years. In Little Rock, the Suzhou Tianyuan Garment Co. is up and running and employing more than 100 at its plant, a $20 million investment, according to Mike Preston, executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. In Jonesboro, Hefei Risever Machinery Co.’s $20 million machine parts plant is under construction. And in Clark County, Sun Bio Materials continues to work through the permitting process for its $1.8 billion linerboard plant.

The delay in the Forrest City project also illustrates the tangible effect that something seemingly abstract — a trade war — has on Arkansas citizens. In Forrest City, 800 jobs would be transformational.

President Trump may think that “trade wars are good, and easy to win,” but St. Francis County workers need jobs and Arkansas farmers, the top rice producers in the world, would love to ship their rice to China. Agriculture is, after all, the state’s biggest industry. And as Preston noted: “We’re the world’s two largest economies. We need each other to prosper.”

So welcome to the Czechs and to the Chinese already here. As for the trade dispute, we, like Forrest City Mayor Cedric Williams, remain “prayerful.”