President Trump Announces Manufacturing Jobs Initiative

The White House released a statement on Friday that President Trump is launching a Manufacturing Jobs Initiative as part of his job creation agenda.

“The President will be meeting with some of the world’s most successful and creative business leaders to share their experiences and gain their insights,” the statement said. “President Trump plans to continually seek information and perspectives from a diverse range of business leaders, including those listed below and others, on how best to promote job growth and get Americans back to work again.”

The strategy mirrors that of other modern industrialized nations such as Japan and Germany where industry and government leaders work closely to promote manufacturing.

President Trump’s approach is diametrically opposed to the progressive idea that manufacturing provides no future for American workers.

For decades, Democrats have pitched a manufacturing revival as the key to lifting millions more workers into the middle class. In recent months, though, some of the party’s leading economic thinkers have conceded that may not be true

The Clintons have always felt that manufacturing jobs were for people in China or Mexico and that Americans should all be employed in high-technology fields.

The Obama administration’s “Made in USA” push was largely a vote-getting ploy to keep unions and blue collar democrats behind the Democrats for the 2012 election.

President Obama campaigned on the idea of a manufacturing revival, not once, but twice. In his first campaign, he promised to get tough on trade with China (although we now have a record trade deficit with China). He then promised to create 1 million new manufacturing jobs in his second term (our #AAMeter shows he’s falling way short of that goal). And his campaign commercials and personal appearances featured scores of American flags, hardhats, factory backdrops, and the words “Made in America.”

But now that he’s not running for office anymore and pushing a massive Pacific trade deal, his support has waned significantly.

Donald Trump secured his victory in the manufacturing-heavy rust belt with the help of steel workers, pipe fitters, factory workers and the whole of blue-collar America. The President’s new job initiative looks as though he’s paying those hard-working folks back and keeping a campaign promise in one promising initiative.

Initial business leaders assisting with the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative include:

Andrew Liveris, The Dow Chemical Company

Bill Brown, Harris Corporation

Michael Dell, Dell Technologies

John Ferriola, Nucor Corporation

Jeff Fettig, Whirlpool Corporation

Mark Fields, Ford Motor Company

Ken Frazier, Merck & Co., Inc.

Alex Gorsky, Johnson & Johnson

Greg Hayes, United Technologies Corp.

Marilynn Hewson, Lockheed Martin Corporation

Jeff Immelt, General Electric

Jim Kamsickas, Dana Inc.

Klaus Kleinfeld, Arconic

Brian Krzanich, Intel Corporation

Rich Kyle, The Timken Company

Thea Lee, AFL-CIO

Mario Longhi, U.S. Steel

Denise Morrison, Campbell Soup Company

Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing

Elon Musk, Tesla

Doug Oberhelman, Caterpillar

Scott Paul, Alliance for American Manufacturing

Kevin Plank, Under Armour

Mike Polk, Newell Brands

Mark Sutton, International Paper

Inge Thulin, 3M

Richard Tumka, AFL-CIO

Wendell Weeks, Corning