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14 reasons why Trump’s tariffs won’t bring manufacturing backarstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/04/14-reasons-why-trumps-tariffs-wont-bring-manufacturing-back/
497 sats \ 9 comments \ @jakoyoh629 17 Apr econ
Can Trump Turn Back the Clock on U.S. Manufacturing? #945347
  1. They’re not high enough
  2. America’s industrial supply chain for many products is weak
  3. We don’t know how to make it
  4. The effective cost of labor in the United States is higher than it looks
  5. We don’t have the infrastructure to manufacture
  6. Made in America will take time
  7. Uncertainty and complexity around the tariffs
  8. Most Americans are going to hate manufacturing
  9. The labor does not exist to make good products
  10. Automation will not save us
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56 sats \ 5 replies \ @Undisciplined 17 Apr
Can we be more clear about what the criteria are?
Higher tariffs will almost certainly increase the amount of stuff made domestically.
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39 sats \ 3 replies \ @jakoyoh629 OP 17 Apr
The article's a bit of a trek, but it's a good read. Totally agree that steep tariffs will make domestic stuff pop off more. The big question though, the one that's got me thinking, is by how much and when's that gonna be?
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66 sats \ 2 replies \ @Undisciplined 17 Apr
We were talking about some of the same things earlier: #945045.
It's a big unknown.
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36 sats \ 0 replies \ @jakoyoh629 OP 17 Apr
Missed that one. Thanks for the heads-up.
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250 sats \ 0 replies \ @Solomonsatoshi 17 Apr
USA has lost the skills and infrastructure to make most manufactured goods. What is needed is an entire ecosystem of skills, materials, logistics and manufacturing plant. The USA lost all of that over recent decades and it is not easy to rebuild. The USA is now fucked without Chinese supply chains. China has won the trade war.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Solomonsatoshi 17 Apr
Higher tariffs will almost certainly increase the amount of stuff made domestically.
I would not be so sure.
How many things made domestically do not include materials coming from Chinese supply chains?
What is certain is inflation will increase in direct proportion to these anti competitive tariffs and the cost will be carried by US consumers and businesses.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @TadiRetata 18 Apr
Instead of sparking a domestic manufacturing boom, these tariffs are driving companies to seek out other low-tariff countries, while persistent policy uncertainty and retaliatory trade actions further discourage long-term investment in U.S. manufacturing
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @TadiRetata 18 Apr
The notion that Trump’s tariffs will bring manufacturing back to the U.S. doesn’t hold up against the realities of global supply chains and rising production costs. Recent surveys and economic analyses show that, despite high-profile tariff policies, most manufacturers are not reshoring operations because tariffs make imported components more expensive, disrupt established supply chains, and ultimately raise costs for both producers and consumers.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Solomonsatoshi 17 Apr
China has won the trade war. While the west indulged in financialisation of the economy China built its engineering skills and manufacturing infrastructure- no easy task- but now China converts raw materials into the manufactured goods the world wants more efficiently than any other nation. USA is fucked without Chinese supply chains. USA is mired in massive debt- the rent on US government debt is now close to $1Trillion each year- more than military expenditure. The US used its USD reserve currency status and its hegemony over global banking via SWIFT to print money and live beyond its means for decades- now crunch time is approaching and the USD/USA faces imminent insolvency. The lack of appetite for USTs signals the limit has been reached. You can squander wealth up to a point but beyond that point things get messy very swiftly.
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