U.S. President Donald Trump's on-again, off-again tariffs are partly aimed at restoring American manufacturing prowess, harking back to a time when some of the world's most famous products were produced in the United States, but workers show little interest.
The American manufacturing story has deep roots in history. For instance, the ten millionth Model T Ford rolling off the assembly line in 1924 is one of the most iconic moments in American industrial history.
But over time, much of that production has been outsourced overseas in return for cheaper products, leading to widespread industrial decline in places like the Midwest.
U.S. presidents have regularly visited the former industrial heartlands of America, pledging to restore a "golden age" in the American economy.
But Donald Trump says this time it's different. Trump's sweeping tariffs are aimed at protecting American jobs from cheaper foreign competition and incentivizing both U.S. firms and foreign competitors to make their products in the U.S.
But with around half-a-million manufacturing job openings unfilled even before Trump launched his trade war, a major question remains: Do people in the U.S. actually want to work in manufacturing? Not all of them says yes.
There were 449,000 manufacturing job openings in the United States in March 2025 and, while a survey by the CATO Institute found that about 80 percent of Americans thought the U.S. would prosper from manufacturing jobs, only a quarter wanted to do that kind of work themselves.
When asked whether they would consider a career in manufacturing, some people in Washington D.C. gave their responses.
Geraleene Jamieson Shirley, a bank worker from Jamaica, said she won't consider it. "Because I'm not necessarily good at those things," she said.
"I wish I could do that, but it's just not really in my skill set. Maybe if I was trained at a younger age I could," said Pete Stewart from Scotland.
However, Brian Gougherty, a salesman from Detroit, expressed a different view.
"We're very proud of our president for bringing back manufacturing. I grew up in Detroit, Michigan. My father worked for Ford Motor Company for 31 years. So I know what Detroit was and still can be because those factories are still there," he said.
While some believe in the so-called "re-shoring movement", many companies say it's not viable to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. on the scale the Trump Administration wants.
Trump touted electrical goods producer Whirlpool as a beneficiary of his tariffs during his first presidency.
Yet a study by the International Trade Commission found that Trump's so-called washing machine tariffs cost taxpayers 800,000 dollars for every job created and raised consumer prices.
And while Whirlpool has said it hopes Trump's tariffs this time around will help, it also acknowledged they contributed to disappointing first quarter results.
Whether the tariffs will truly deliver on the promise of a manufacturing renaissance still remains to be seen.
Trump’s tariffs aim to return manufacturing jobs to US but workers show little interest
