This is a script for a segment that appeared on Velshi April 13, 2025.

((SOT – TRUMP IN JANUARY))

TRUMP: We'll impose new tariffs so that the products on our stores will once again be stamped with those beautiful words, made in the USA.

((ALI/ON CAM))

Bringing back manufacturing jobs: that’s one of the president’s stated goals in levying tariffs against our biggest trading partners. America was once the world’s pre-eminent manufacturing power. But globalization and free trade have undercut American factories, and automation has thinned the workforce as well. 

((FS – MANUFACTURING EMPLOYMENT #S))

At the industry's peak in 1979, 19.6 million Americans made their living in the manufacturing sector, now it’s more like 12.7 million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

((ON CAM))

Somewhere along the way, America abdicated its place atop the manufacturing world.

Let's go all the way back to the rapid industrialization of America and much of the world near the beginning of the 20th century. 

((VO – FORD MODEL T CONSTRUCTION))

Henry Ford's car factories were pumping out the first automobile that was affordable to the middle class: the Ford Model T. Two inventions converged in those factories: interchangeable parts allowed for standardized production and the assembly line rapidly sped up the manufacturing process. 

((VO – WWII FACTORY STILLS))

World War Two pushed American factories – now retrofitted to make weapons – to their absolute limits, but we emerged from the war as the world’s dominant political AND economic power, largely through our ability to produce. 

((ALI/OC))

By 1945, half of the worlds’ goods – car parts, home appliances, clothes, you name it – were made in America, according to the National World War Two museum. 

In that same year, the state of Pennsylvania – by itself – produced more steel than Germany and Japan combined.

((VO – MADE IN AMERICA TAGS AND STICKERS))

“Made in America” became a symbol of pride and a guarantee of quality. But soon enough, a stew of globalization, automation, and a new consumer culture meant access to cheap goods became a bigger priority than manufacturing the goods ourselves. 

((ALI/OC))

The global financial crash in 1980 killed jobs and pushed companies to lower costs by moving production overseas – although several studies argue that automation led to more job losses than outsourcing did. Global trade agreements were signed, allowing companies to find production centers with lower wage laws and looser labor rights, reducing their overhead.

Between 2000 and 2010, the U.S. lost one third of its manufacturing jobs, a sharp drop that led to many people in manufacturing hubs – like Ohio, West Virginia, and elsewhere – to struggle with mass unemployment, mental health issues, and opioid addictions. 

Jobs were lost, factories closed, towns shuttered. And service industries and technological innovation became the new source of America’s economic power.

((FS – MANUFACTURING AS % OF GDP: 1957 VS. 2024))

Over the last 70 years, the share of GDP made up by American manufacturing has shrank from nearly 27% to about 10%.

((ALI/OC))

And many of those lost jobs are in red states, where support for President Trump is high.

So it may, on its surface, seem sensible for Trump to want to bring manufacturing jobs back to those very places. 

But what exactly is Trump's manufacturing strategy?

Factories need to exist in order for Americans to work in them and produce American-made products.

So what’ll it be – soccer balls? Socks? Sunbeds?

Where will these factories be? In Ohio? In Michigan?

When will they be built?

What does success look like?

((PAUSE))

We don't have answers to any of those questions.

Not a single one.

There is no strategy.  

Trump thinks tariffs will bring manufacturing jobs back.

But you need a manufacturing policy in order for that to work.

Tariffs should be the product of a sophisticated manufacturing infrastructure. Not the other way around.

It's like buying a car before you learn how to drive. 

You're not going to get very far.

((FADE TO BLACK))