As someone with a tech founder, finance and real estate investing background, I am hopeful that a new U.S. manufacturing renaissance can bring back jobs and investments into parts of America that have been devastated. It will not be a surprise to many that millions of Americans involved in the huge manufacturing sector and states that rely heavily on it will benefit greatly from a renaissance.
While robotics have advanced, and AI demolishes service industries, the idea of a “lights out” factory — meaning there are no human workers — is not quite there yet. People are still required in these state-of-the-art factories, although admittedly of higher skill and fewer numbers. That could translate to a lot of American jobs if manufacturing returns here. But there are several hurdles and considerations.
Trump has always stated that he intends to pursue tariffs on key imported products unless they build their factories here. Economists say those tariffs will only make products more expensive. But if those manufacturers agree to bring those factories and jobs here, Trump has said the tariffs will not be imposed, effectively making it a bargaining chip. In general, when you increase the input costs of a manufactured product for various reasons, including adding tariffs to components, equipment and materials, the product price will increase. For imported finished goods, once a tariff is applied, the final price will increase — unless in both cases the company decides to absorb these added costs and not pass these on to buyers, but only if their profit margins are sufficient.
Content retrieved from: https://www.salon.com/2024/12/25/a-us-manufacturing-renaissance-yes-please-but-it-wont-be-easy/.
