US industrial self-sufficiency is not easy to achieve

Significance A protectionist industrial policy is a central pillar of the president’s ‘America First’ economic vision for the United States, which includes trying to eliminate the bilateral trade deficits that are a particular obsession of his. Impacts Export-oriented and import-competing manufacturers will have opposing tariff interests. High skills needed for the new manufacturing jobs will break the traditional ladder from the factory floor to the middle class. Creating new jobs may help to defuse ideological opposition to investment in clean energy and green technologies manufacturing.