Process Control Instrument Manufacturers NAICS 334513

Mar 6, 2026 - Countries may Choose to Keep Existing Tariff Deals

• President Trump said in his State of the Union Address that almost all countries and corporations want to keep trade deals already completed in order to avoid the higher tariffs enacted via an executive order issued shortly after the US Supreme Court ruled in late February 2026 that President Trump exceeded his authority when imposing tariffs using a law reserved for a national emergency. Process control instrument manufacturers are likely to benefit if the cost of goods imported from countries that were hit with tariffs decreases. The executive order implements a new tariff under Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act. Section 122 allows the president to institute a "temporary import surcharge" of up to 15% if he finds there are "large and serious United States balance of-payments deficits" or to "prevent an imminent and significant depreciation of the [US] dollar in foreign exchange markets." The tariffs can last for up to 150 days, after which Congress may have to take action to extend them, according to NBC News, and the law is also not clear on whether the administration could restart the tariffs immediately after the 150 days with another executive order.
• Critical infrastructure systems are vulnerable to a new kind of cyberattack that targets browser-based control systems in industrial facilities with easy-to-deploy, difficult-to-detect malware, according to researchers at Georgia Tech university. The malware targets programmable logic controllers (PLCs), which are increasingly made with embedded webservers and are accessed on site via web browsers. Attackers can exploit this approach and gain full access to infrastructure systems. "We're calling it web-based PLC malware. It gives you full device and physical process control,” said Ryan Pickren, a Ph.D. student in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the lead author of a new study describing the malware and its implications. This new cyberattack strategy is the result of a shift in recent years in software and devices used to control and monitor various industrial systems. Manufacturers have turned to web-based management instead of a dedicated terminal or control pad running custom software specific to the device.

• Process control instrument manufacturers benefiting from reshoring may also benefit from nearshoring, according to the Reshoring Initiative (RI). Harry Moser, founder of RI, says that if a product is so labor intensive that you can’t bring it to the US, then companies are sometimes surprised to find that wages in Mexico are far lower than in China. The average Mexican manufacturing worker earns $4 an hour, while the rate in China — where wages have been gaining 10% to 15% a year — is currently around $7, and in the US, it’s roughly $23. Products coming from Mexico end up with an average 40% US content, while in China they have 5% US content.
• Process control instrument manufactures increased prices slightly during the first two months of 2026, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Process control instrument manufacturing industry employment decreased slightly and average wages for nonsupervisory employees increased slightly during the first month of 2026, according to the BLS. Process control instrument industry sales are forecast to grow at a 4.87% compounded annual rate from 2025 to 2029, faster than the growth of the overall economy.