More than 89,000 manufacturing workers lost their jobs in the past year as tariffs caused input prices to rise and squeezed blue-collar industries.

A year ago today, President Donald Trump unveiled steep tariffs on imports from most countries. With these duties, he declared, "jobs and factories will come roaring back into our country." The president's tariffs have fallen well short of this goal.

From April 2025 to February 2026, the U.S. lost 89,000 manufacturing jobs, according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). That's an average of about 9,000 jobs lost per month since Liberation Day. Meanwhile, overall blue-collar employment has declined by around 190,000 jobs since April 2025. These numbers reflect what many manufacturers warned would happen after Trump announced his so-called reciprocal tariffs.



Last June, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond published data showing that 41 percent of firms had adjusted their hiring plans in response to Trump's tariff policies. The next month, automakers cited tariffs as responsible for 4,975 job cuts. In August, John Deere laid off 238 workers across three of its plants, after the firm reported its "operating profit decreased due to higher tariffs."

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