Trump Wants to Bring Manufacturing Back to America — Here’s Why It Won’t Work

Trump wants jobs back in the U.S., but are we ready for them?

The Jobs Didn't Just Leave — They Were Escorted Out

Let’s set the record straight: U.S. manufacturing didn’t vanish by accident. It was pushed out — by policy, by greed, and by the same people now claiming they want it back. Starting in the 1970s, American companies began moving operations overseas to chase cheaper labor and fewer regulations. Politicians from both parties — including Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush — passed trade agreements and deregulated industries that made offshoring not only possible but profitable.

In 2001, the U.S. welcomed China into the World Trade Organization. The result? A flood of cheap imports and the offshoring of over 3.7 million American jobs, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Corporations didn’t just find new factories — they found a new playbook. One where the American worker became too expensive, and patriotism got replaced with profit margins.

Corporations and government officials played a pivotal role in sending jobs overseas in the 70s-early 2000s.

 Resource Scarcity & Tariff Reality: You Can’t Manufacture What You Can’t Mine

Bringing back manufacturing isn’t as simple as building a few factories. It requires raw materials — and the U.S. is no longer rich in them. Critical components for electronics, batteries, and green tech — like lithium, cobalt, and rare earth elements — are now mostly sourced from countries like China, Congo, and Chile.

Enter: tariffs. Trump and others argue that tariffs will pressure companies to manufacture domestically. But tariffs don’t fix resource shortages — they just make everything more expensive. The U.S. is heavily dependent on imported materials and finished goods. Adding tariffs to that equation means higher prices for consumers and supply chain disruptions for businesses — all while our competitors continue to build faster and cheaper.

 Regulation vs. Reality: Why Other Countries Build Faster

Let’s talk about the elephant in the factory — regulation. No one likes to hear it, but it matters. Countries like China and Vietnam move faster in construction, expansion, and production because they operate with far less red tape. Environmental regulations, labor protections, and permitting delays in the U.S. make building and maintaining factories more expensive and time-consuming.

And while those protections matter — we shouldn't just throw them out — the cost gap is real. You can't bring back American manufacturing to 1970s levels without reforming permitting laws, streamlining processes, and modernizing oversight. Otherwise, manufacturers will continue to look abroad — because they can move faster and cheaper there.

 The Real Cost: Higher Wages and Crumbling Infrastructure

Labor isn’t just more expensive in the U.S. — it’s expected to be. And that’s not a bad thing. American workers expect fair wages, benefits, and safety. But that’s also why many companies left in the first place. They didn’t want to pay more — so they didn’t.

Combine that with the fact that much of our manufacturing infrastructure is outdated or abandoned, and you’ve got a recipe for failure. Reviving domestic manufacturing means rebuilding roads, factories, training centers, and supply chains — and that costs money. A lot of it.

The stats don't lie- we need massive investments in our infrastructure & workforce to take on manufacturing reshoring projects.

 Tax the Dodgers, Fund the Future

Let’s be honest: we have the money. It’s just being hoarded. If U.S. corporations actually paid their fair share in taxes, we’d have billions — if not trillions — to reinvest in infrastructure and workforce development.

• In 2020, 55 of the largest U.S. companies paid $0 in federal income tax, despite earning over $40 billion in profits.

• 
  

• According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, closing just a few major loopholes could generate over $100 billion per year.

  
  

That’s money that could rebuild old plants, train workers, and fund apprenticeship programs. But instead, it’s sitting in offshore accounts and corporate stock buybacks. If billion-dollar companies want to operate in America, they need to invest in it too.

We Need Skills Before We Need Tariffs

You can’t fill a factory if no one knows how to use the machines. And right now, we’re already short. There are over 500,000 open manufacturing jobs in the U.S., and experts estimate that 1.9 million positions could go unfilled by 2033 due to a lack of skilled workers.

Manufacturing today isn’t like it was in the past. It's tech-driven, precision-based, and often requires advanced training. Half of these jobs need at least a bachelor’s degree, while the rest require certifications or trade skills most young Americans simply haven’t been taught.

We need vocational training, apprenticeships, and public-private partnerships to rebuild the workforce. Programs like FAME (created by Toyota) are showing real results — but they need to scale fast, and they need funding.

 Global Influence Requires Global Cooperation

Trying to bully the world into bringing jobs back with tariffs won’t work. We live in a global economy now, and acting like the U.S. can do it all alone is outdated and dangerous. The U.S. needs to maintain good relationships with outsourcing partners like Mexico, India, Vietnam, and yes — even China — because supply chains are international.

The goal shouldn’t be to isolate — it should be to lead by example, cooperate on innovation, and create win-win relationships that allow the U.S. to retain influence without burning bridges.

The state of many US factories across the country, particularly rust belt cities and states (think Great Lakes, Midwest and Midsouth).

 From Consumers to Creators — Gen Z’s Role

If manufacturing is going to make a comeback, Gen Z has to be part of it. And that means knowing what’s coming. Tariffs will likely raise prices. Companies may try to reshore jobs. But the biggest need will be young, skilled, tech-savvy workers who are ready to operate tomorrow’s machines today.

According to the Manufacturing Institute, we need 3.8 million new workers by 2033. That’s an opportunity — but only if the system is ready to train and support them.

 So What Needs to Happen?

• End tax loopholes and force big corporations to pay into the system they benefit from

• Modernize infrastructure so manufacturing can actually happen on U.S. soil

• Fund training and apprenticeships, not just colleges

• Reform permitting and regulation to make building easier (without gutting protections)

• Collaborate globally, instead of pretending we can go it alone

• And above all: stop pretending tariffs are the silver bullet

  
  

If we want to make things in America again, we can’t just slap a “Made in the USA” sticker on a box and call it good. We need real investment, real reform, and a workforce that’s ready to build — not just consume.