This article was published in The Gazette.
Restoring manufacturing and preventing further outsourcing will require a combination of policies including protective tariffs, pro-growth tax reforms, reducing the regulatory burden, and ending the radical environmental agenda that is preventing energy independence and mining.
The Republican Party is becoming a more pro-worker party, which is a direct result of President Donald Trump’s America First policy agenda. Numerous Republicans across the nation at the state and national level are identifying as “ pro-labor conservatives.” Sen. JD Vance was selected by President Donald Trump as his running mate for this very reason.
Free market conservatives within the Republican Party tend to view this as heresy, especially when it comes to trade and immigration policy. However, President Donald Trump is actually resurrecting an older conservative tradition.
“There was a time when Republicans knew that American strength depends squarely on American workers — and their way of life: family, neighborhood, church, union hall,” wrote Sen. Josh Hawley.
Patrick J. Buchanan wrote that “in leading Republicans away from globalism to economic nationalism, Trump is not writing a new gospel. He is leading a lost party away from a modernist heresy — back to the Old-Time Religion.”
As an example, President William McKinley campaigned on the slogan “the full dinner pail,” and President Calvin Coolidge credited “restrictive immigration” and a “tariff for protection” as policies that not only led to economic growth but benefited workers.
A major cornerstone of President Donald Trump’s campaign centers on trade policy. Specifically, he is calling for the restoration of manufacturing and the prevention of outsourcing.
Iowans have been alarmed by the recently announced layoffs by John Deere. More troubling for many was the announcement by Deere that they are planning to build a manufacturing facility in Mexico and will be outsourcing Iowa-based jobs.
John Deere, is a major beneficiary of Iowa’s Research and Activities tax credit. In 2023, Deere was the state’s largest recipient of the tax credit, with Iowa taxpayers awarding Deere and Company over $15 million and Deere Construction and Forestry over $4 million. Iowa taxpayers are helping to subsidize the outsourcing of jobs.
Deere’s announcement of planning a new facility in Mexico is nothing new. For decades, many corporations have participated in outsourcing. Reasons for this include the cost of business being too high or trying to find a cheaper supply of labor.
Nevertheless, trade agreements such as NAFTA, the WTO, granting China Most Favored Nation Status (MFN), among others opened the door for a mass exodus of manufactures to leave the United States.
It is estimated that since 2001 the United States has lost 4 million manufacturing jobs to China. Iowa alone lost over 33,000 jobs. This does not include the loss of manufacturing as a result of other trade agreements.
This in turn devastated many communities, especially in the Midwest. The loss of manufacturing hollowed out the middle class, which hurt families and helped to fuel other social problems.
The United States is also running massive trade deficits. Since 2000, the nation has run over $17 trillion in trade deficits, which means that we are importing vastly more than we are exporting.
“When a country runs decades of huge trade deficits, it is transferring its wealth overseas, often to its most dangerous adversaries, in return for higher short-term consumption. We are literally trading the future control of our country, the wealth of our children and grandchildren, for current consumption — cheaper TV sets and sneakers. This is madness,” argues Ambassador Robert Lighthizer, who served as the United States Trade Representative in the Trump administration.
Further, it is not just cheap consumer goods that we are importing, but high-tech goods. The United States has become dependent upon foreign nations for necessities such as pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and even crucial components for our national defense.
“Is not the case now conclusive that we made a historic mistake when we outsourced our economic independence to rely for vital necessities upon nations that have never had America’s best interests at heart,” asked Buchanan?
Rebuilding the nation’s manufacturing base will not be easy and it will not happen overnight. Restoring manufacturing and preventing further outsourcing will require a combination of policies including protective tariffs, pro-growth tax reforms, reducing the regulatory burden, and ending the radical environmental agenda that is preventing energy independence and mining.
This is what President Donald Trump and Sen. Vance are trying to accomplish, and that is the reason so many blue-collar Americans are supporting the Republican ticket.
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