Experts say U.S. trade policies unlikely to bring manufacturing back to U.S.

31/5/2025 17:29

The Trump administration's attempt to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States through aggressive tariffs is unreachable, according to economic experts.



"For the most part, Americans were not lining up for factory jobs," Nancy Qian, an economics professor at Northwestern University, told Xinhua, recalling that even during the pandemic, manufacturers struggled to retain workers.



Echoing concerns about the strategy's effectiveness, Robert Wiest, president of the Swiss-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, called the use of tariffs "a very crude tool."



He told Xinhua that U.S. trade policy is "definitely not very productive" and has failed to yield any results. Instead, it has created uncertainty and alienated not only allies but also important trading partners, he said.



Tariffs have also backfired for U.S. manufacturers, especially those who rely on imported components.



"For a pair of Nike shoes that had the final value of 40 U.S. dollars when it crossed the border, around 40 percent of that value was actually design and material innovation done in the United States. So the 16 dollars of value produced in America was also taxed," Qian said.