By Manoj Agrawal
Do you know that USA became a manufacturing giant during World War II and continued thereafter. As labor costs steadily rose, numerous companies shifted out their factories to low-wage countries such as China. Imports surged and created a massive trade deficit for US. Trump’s MAGA agenda is to reverse this with equally massive tariffs.
One prospect is that companies already in the US could scale-up manufacturing. These could be well-known ones like Ford, GM, Toyota, Honda, Kia, etc, and also those in process manufacturing such as steel, aluminum, cement, plastic, fertilizers, chemicals, paper, wires, pipes, etc.
Here is some useful data. US is the world’s largest cement importing country, accounting for a 17.9% share of global cement imports by value in 2023. It imported over 26 million tons of cement from countries like Canada, Turkey, and Mexico, valued at $2.7 billion. In 2024, the US imported $8.7 billion worth of fertilizers from Canada, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Mexico, Egypt, etc. In 2023, US imported $19.4 billion worth of rubber tires, making it the world’s largest importer, with the top sources being Thailand, Mexico, Japan, Canada, and Vietnam. Tariffs will certainly raise the cost of such imports and give a boost to ‘Make in America.’
Further tariff protection comes from the proposed duties on Chinese ships vising US ports. These duties will be far more burdensome on bulk goods like steel, cement, fertilizers as compared to garments, shoes, electronics, toys, etc – giving additional momentum for commodity manufacturing in the US.
Food products like butter, corn flakes, juices, soya nuggets, etc, could also see a boost in manufacturing in USA. One good thing about all such products is that
they not dependent on rare earths, making these industries more resilient to Chinese threats.
Look at the multiple advantages of making in USA – a huge domestic market, good export markets, good access to raw materials, low energy costs, low finance costs, good logistics infrastructure, etc.
Gigafactories and hi-tech manufacturing are the future. If Tesla can make in USA, so can many others. Most new factories are likely to come up in the red states than in the blue states, giving a further boost to Trump’s supporters and his economic moves. History has a tendency to repeat – and USA could become a manufacturing giant once again.
