Trump’s manufacturing boom has a serious blind spot

The Trump administration is weighing the next phase of its tariff agenda: a new round of Section 301 tariffs aimed at dozens of countries around the globe. These tariffs are timely, coming shortly after the Supreme Court terminated the previous tariff regime.

However, there is reason to be concerned that these wide-ranging tariffs may extend an inadvertently large net: companies already in the midst of shifting their supply lines back to the United States. Doing so will only hurt the goal of restoring the country’s capacity to make what it needs and of building up the workforce that does the making.

As such, the power tools and jobsite equipment that electricians, plumbers, welders, machinists, and construction workers rely on every day should be excluded from the new tariffs, provided their manufacturers are already reshoring to USMCA countries. This would be similar to how President Donald Trump has already excluded the equipment that farmers and construction crews depend on.

Read more at Washington Examiner.