Bringing Back Manufacturing: Core to America or False Nostalgia? 

President Donald Trump's tariffs, he says, will bring back manufacturing jobs, but is that an era the US can return to?

The Details: In the 1950s, about 35% of private-sector jobs were manufacturing jobs. Today, that number is around 9.4%. A Cato Institute (Lean Right bias) poll found 80% of Americans said “America would be better off if more people worked in manufacturing,” but 73% disagreed that “I would be better off if I worked in a factory.”

Manufacturing Can't Return: The Wall Street Journal (Center) said, according to economists, “The higher prices that consumers and businesses pay [due to tariffs] will end up cutting into spending on other goods and services—including ones made in the U.S. This would more than swallow up any benefits from increased domestic production," adding, “Even a 30% increase in manufacturing jobs would only bring manufacturing’s share of private employment up to about 12%.” An MSNBC (Left) piece noted that people correlate the industrial era with happier times because of affordability, but manufacturing wasn't the only factor. There was also widespread racism and sexism that reduced job competition and high taxes that helped subsidize their lifestyle. 

Manufacturing Must Return: A Rasmussen Reports (Lean Right) poll showed 67% of Democrats and 86% of Republicans agreed that “if we do not protect our nation’s manufacturers, we lose a fundamental part of who we are as a people. Making things, building things, working with our hands is America’s heritage.” Another concern is that offshoring manufacturing of essential products to countries like China can pose a national security risk. In RealClearPolitics (Lean Right), a writer argued that America had a protectionist economy until the Cold War required that to change, but we are no longer in the Cold War and we can reprioritize the American worker. The American System, centered on protective tariffs, built America's prosperity and economic dominance once and can do so again, he argued.

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