President Donald Trump’s shock-and-awe tariff campaign is struggling to revive American manufacturing jobs. Despite spikes in tariffs to levels unseen in nearly a century, factory hiring remains weak, with net job losses of 14,000 in May and June, according to federal data.
The chaotic policy rollout has paralyzed businesses, causing uncertainty among CEOs about the long-term impact of Trump’s tariffs. Economists warn that the haphazard nature of the trade war is exacerbating the pressure on US manufacturing.
Manufacturing employment remains little changed since Trump took office, with factory hiring plummeting to a record low in May, even below pre-pandemic levels. Job openings have also declined by nearly 100,000 since Trump’s inauguration.
“The decimation of manufacturing jobs under Joe Biden came to an end the day President Trump took office,” said White House spokesperson Kush Desai. However, experts argue that Trump’s tariffs have increased costs for manufacturers, making it more expensive to produce goods in America.
Research shows that Trump’s 2018 steel tariffs led to a net loss of 75,000 manufacturing jobs due to higher input costs. Experts like Robert Lawrence, a professor at Harvard University, question the effectiveness of Trump’s policies, saying they are designed by an 80-year-old man with nostalgia for the past when manufacturing was a significant driver of employment opportunities.
Lawrence notes that manufacturing makes up only about 7.9% of total US jobs and that even if the entire US trade deficit were wiped out, its share of employment would increase by only 1.7 percentage points. The shift from factories to services has been ongoing for decades, with 95% of America’s job growth since the 1950s coming from the service sector.
The struggle to find workers remains a challenge, as robots and automation have made labor cheaper overseas. Many factories are struggling to attract skilled workers, making manufacturing sites increasingly isolated from major population centers.
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/11/business/jobs-trump-tariffs-manufacturing