The Illinois town where Trump's tariffs have provided jobs, and a sigh of relief

GRANITE CITY, Ill. - Grab a cup of coffee with a resident of Granite City and you'll likely hear it said that the southern Illinois city was built around the local U.S. Steel plant, not the other way around.

It's the locals' way of conveying how heavily Granite City, just outside St. Louis, depends on the steel mill, both for the jobs and the sense of identity it provides.

For more than 100 years, Granite City has defined itself as a hardworking mill town, a place where young people eager to cement a solid financial future without a college degree have to look no further than the dirt and iron and fire of the local steel plant, which stretches over 2 square miles. The opportunity afforded by the plant came to a halt at the end of 2015, when the