An Un-MAGA Proposal to Bring Back American Manufacturing

Nearly every presidential candidate since Ross Perot has made reviving US manufacturing part of their platform1. But few have leaned on that promise as heavily as Donald Trump. Part of his plan to “make America great again” is making more stuff here.

Since Trump’s 2016 victory, many Americans have asked why we aren’t doing that for so many basic goods, such as clothing. Apparel and textile factories have shed roughly 81% of their jobs since 1979, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The political reflex has been to blame immigrants and impose tariffs, but the prospect of reshoring manufacturing, at least in apparel, faces a more fundamental hurdle.