Every president talks about Made in America. Here’s what we think a new Trump administration should pursue to convert those promises into reality.
Former President Donald Trump is now President-elect Donald Trump, heading back to the White House for a second term. The incoming 47th president has long talked about bring back American manufacturing jobs, and he continued doing so during his most recent presidential campaign.
As we are an organization dedicated to growing factory jobs and strengthening American manufacturing, we hope that Trump will make good on his promise to prioritize the sector and lead efforts to get the job done.
Here’s what AAM President Scott Paul told CBS News after Trump’s win:
“We hope that American manufacturing jobs will be a priority… That means a continued strategic application of tariffs; smart investments in industry, innovation, and infrastructure; expanding Buy America procurement policies and tax rules to spur domestic production; and boosting apprenticeships and worker training programs.”
Let’s break that down.
Strategic application of tariffs: Everyone knows that Donald Trump says he loves a tariff. In his first term, Trump applied “Section 301” tariffs to a number of Chinese imports in response to China’s consistent trade cheating. The Trump administration also levied a 25% tariff on some steel and aluminum imports, a move we strongly supported at the time, and one that ultimately proved to strengthen these critical American industries. President Biden, in fact, retained virtually all of Trump’s tariffs – and in the case of the Section 301 tariffs, even raised some of them in key sectors.
During his 2024 campaign, Trump pledged to levy a 10% tariff on all imports and 60% on Chinese imports. Already we are seeing importers freak out about this plan. Here at AAM, we have always viewed tariffs as neither good nor evil, but rather as a strategic trade tool to be deployed to help enforce our trade laws and defend our national and economic security interests. As such, we would encourage the new Trump administration to use tariffs strategically in key sectors, when there is proven trade cheating, and when our economic and national security are at risk. We also think Trump would be wise to support legislation like the Leveling the Playing Field Act 2.0, which would create new, more flexible trade tools to help the U.S. better (and more quickly) respond to the continuously evolving bad practices of China and other nations.
Smart Investments in Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure: Trump talked a lot about investing in infrastructure during his first term, but ultimately infrastructure investment passed during the Biden administration. Congress and the administration also also passed industrial policies like the CHIPS and Science Act and Inflation Reduction Act. While Trump has been critical of aspects of the latter laws, given that many of the factories currently being built thanks to these policies are now set to come online during his term in office, it would be surprising for him to reverse course and leave a legacy of half-finished semiconductor, EV, and solar plants across the United States. And given Trump’s stated support for American manufacturing, we hope he will back similar investments in American industry to encourage further factory construction, especially in critical industries, along with continued investment in innovation and infrastructure to support all this factory growth. As we’ve said often, these investments should be viewed as the first step, not the last word, in growing U.S. manufacturing, especially in critical sectors.
Expanding Buy America Procurement Policies and Tax Rules: American presidents from both parties tend to talk a big game about making sure taxpayer dollars are used on American-made products and support American workers. But when the government goes to spend that tax money, things get caught up in the bureaucracy and far too many exceptions are allowed.
We hope that Trump not only continues his stated support for Buy America procurement policies, but will also appoint personnel to key government positions that share the commitment to Made in America. One such recommendation? Continuing the Made in America Office and ensuring whoever is selected to head that agency is empowered to strengthen Buy America and close loopholes across the federal government.
Boosting Apprenticeships and Worker Training Programs: As mentioned above, it’s expected that new American factories will come online across the country during Trump’s second term. All those factories will need workers to make things run, and many existing factories report challenges in hiring. Squeezing legal immigration too much could also exacerbate the hiring challenges for manufacturing.
There is a role for the White House to play to address these issues. After all, the United States long has prioritized policy to encourage young people to attend four-year universities. It’s past time to place more emphasis on the trades and other industry jobs that provide a good living. We encourage Trump to lead the way, including by bringing together private sector and labor unions who have found success in implementing training programs. We hope Trump also will support upgrading Trade Adjustment Assistance, which provides funding to help workers who lose their job due to trade policy to enter training programs to find new employment and not let it be held hostage to demands for new free trade agreement authority or lowering our own tariffs.