Here’s How The Biden Administration Can Revive U.S. Manufacturing

Here’s How The Biden Administration Can Revive U.S. Manufacturing

Share to Linkedin Politicians of every stripe can rest assured that no one will disagree with the idea of bringing back U. S. manufacturing. So it's no surprise the Biden Administration has already introduced a revitalized Buy American campaign and a "foreign policy for the middle class," fueled by "massive investments in [domestic] technology and infrastructure." That's music to the ears of all of us working to make American manufacturers more competitive. The industrial heartland needs investment more than it needs tariffs and other trade barriers. Attaching the investment to foreign policy makes sense given that trade agreements (e. g., NAFTA) and diplomacy (like China's entry in the World Trade Organization) were largely responsible for unleashing the forces that ravaged the Factory Belt over the past 50 years. But here's the hard truth: No amount of investment will return U. S. manufacturing to what it was in 1970. Many of the manufacturers who long served as the economic engines in cities and towns across the Midwest are gone, and they're not coming back. Nor are the urban factories that once sustained middle-class populations in cities like Cleveland, Chicago and Pittsburgh. Trying to revive them, to rebuild the sector as it