EASTLAKE, Ohio, April 17 (Reuters) - When Keith Czika learned the brass-instrument factory where he had worked for nearly 18 years was closing and his job was headed to China, the 62-year-old Ohioan focused on what he ​saw as a source of leverage: the plant’s ultimate owner, billionaire investor John Paulson, a close ally of President Donald Trump.

A three-time Trump voter, Czika raised the idea in early January with union ‌colleagues of publicly calling out Paulson to try to save the Conn Selmer plant. The strategy was to pressure Paulson by linking the closure to Trump's pledge to revive American manufacturing. During the 2024 campaign, Paulson had criticized U.S. companies for offshoring jobs.

But the United Auto Workers’ public campaign — including a rally at which local officials assailed Paulson, social‑media videos and an online petition to the White House seeking Trump’s intervention — failed to avert the closure. The Eastlake, Ohio, factory is set to shut at the end of June, costing ​150 jobs.