On April 10, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will tour Whirlpool Corporation’s washing machine plant in Clyde, Ohio, and hold a press conference alongside the company’s leadership. The visit is the marquee stop on Ambassador Greer’s manufacturing swing through Michigan and Ohio. The reason is clear: Clyde is home to the largest washing machine factory in the world, in continuous operation since 1952, and a living testament to what American manufacturing can achieve when a company refuses to leave.
Whirlpool Corporation is the last major kitchen and laundry appliance company headquartered, owned, and primarily manufacturing in the United States. Founded in Benton Harbor, Michigan, in 1911, the company has spent more than a century building appliances on American soil while its competitors either left for cheaper production overseas or were sold outright to foreign buyers.That distinction carries real economic weight: 20,000 U.S. employees, 14,000 of them manufacturing workers, across 11 domestic production plants. Fortune named Whirlpool the No. 1 most admired company in home equipment and furnishings for 2026, and TIME named it one of America’s Most Iconic Companies, the only home-appliance maker to earn the designation.
A $300 Million Bet on Ohio
In October 2025, Whirlpool Corp. announced a $300 million investment in its U.S. laundry operations, concentrated at its Clyde and Marion, Ohio, facilities.The investment is expected to create 400 to 600 new jobs directly and support an estimated 5,000 additional positions in supplier and service industries across the state. A full new production shift launched in early 2026. Financial support from JobsOhio and state tax credits is accelerating the buildout.
“Whirlpool Corporation’s unwavering commitment to American manufacturing is a cornerstone of our identity,” said Chairman and CEO Marc Bitzer. “This $300 million investment in our Clyde and Marion facilities underscores our dedication to creating jobs, fostering innovation, and delivering high-quality, American-made appliances to U.S. consumers.”
The Clyde plant produces more than four million washers a year. The Marion dryer factory celebrated its 70th anniversary in September 2025, and one-third of its employees have worked at the facility for more than 20 years. Whirlpool is also opening a new state-of-the-art production facility in Perrysburg, Ohio, investing over $60 million and creating 100 to 150 additional jobs. The Perrysburg plant will handle component manufacturing and subassembly work to support laundry production at Clyde and Marion, bringing more of the supply chain in-house. Kristin Day, Whirlpool’s Vice President of U.S. Manufacturing, captured what the investment means for the workers and communities behind these numbers: “We are proud to reinforce our commitment to the communities and plants where generations have not only built appliances but careers, families and futures.”
The Competitive Edge of Making It Here
Whirlpool Corporation’s domestic manufacturing base gives the company a structural advantage that grows more valuable as trade policy corrects decades of imbalance. Eighty percent of the major appliances Whirlpool Corp. sells in the U.S. are produced in the U.S. The vast majority of materials and components used in its American factories are sourced domestically, including approximately 96% of its steel content. No major competitor comes close. The industry average for domestic production among appliance brands is roughly 25%.
The contrast with Whirlpool Corporation’s rivals is stark. GE Appliances was sold to China’s Qingdao Haier in 2016 for $5.6 billion, putting a recognizable kitchen brand under Chinese ownership. The vast majority of appliances sold in the United States by Korean manufacturers LG and Samsung are produced in foreign factories. When tariffs raise the cost of imported goods, these companies absorb the full impact. Whirlpool Corporation’s tariff burden is minimized precisely because the company makes its products where it sells them.
Tariffs and the Level Playing Field
The appliance industry offers one of the clearest illustrations of how tariff policy can reward domestic investment. Even after the Supreme Court struck down the broader IEEPA-based reciprocal tariff regime in February 2026, steel and aluminum tariffs, duties on imported appliances, and the 10% global baseline tariff all remain in place. Whirlpool Corp. said those measures “gave it confidence that it would ultimately benefit from the administration’s trade policies.”
As CPA’s Chief Economist Emeritus Jeff Ferry has argued, “Tariffs done right can rebuild our economy.” The appliance sector proves the point. First-term tariffs on washing machines forced foreign competitors to absorb higher costs on their imports, while domestic producers like Whirlpool Corp. saw the competitive gap narrow. The current tariff environment extends that logic across the full product line. Foreign rivals that chose to produce offshore are now paying for that decision. Whirlpool Corporation, which stayed through decades of offshoring pressure and the competitive onslaught of subsidized Asian imports, is finally getting a level playing field that will allow them to take advantage of their American production.
The Broader Lesson
Whirlpool Corporation’s story validates a central premise of the pro-industrialization agenda: companies that invest in America can compete and win when trade policy stops subsidizing offshoring. For decades, the prevailing economic consensus held that domestic manufacturing was a relic, that American firms could not compete with low-cost Asian production, and that consumers were better served by cheap imports regardless of what they cost in jobs and industrial capacity. Whirlpool Corporation’s continued investment proves the opposite conclusion.
When Ambassador Greer walks the floor of the Clyde plant on April 10, he will see what 115 years of commitment to domestic production has built: 8,000 manufacturing workers across six Ohio facilities, a company that sources 96% of its steel from American mills, and a $300 million expansion that is adding hundreds of jobs in communities where families have built careers on the factory floor for three generations. Six Ohio plants, $23 billion in U.S. spending over the past decade, and a new vertically integrated facility in Perrysburg that will drive greater competitiveness.
Washington should take notice. Maintaining steel tariffs, enforcing duties on imported appliances, and ensuring a durable, predictable tariff framework will keep the incentive structure that rewards companies like Whirlpool for staying and investing in the United States.
Started in America. Stayed in America. And now, expanding in America.
REFERENCES
USTR Press Release, April 7, 2026.
Whirlpool Corporation, “Investing in American Jobs and Manufacturing,” 2026 Fact Sheet.
Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies, January 21, 2026; and TIME’s America’s Most Iconic Companies, February 4, 2026.
Whirlpool Corporation Press Release, October 15, 2025.
GE completed the sale of GE Appliances to Qingdao Haier Co., Ltd. for $5.6 billion in June 2016.
The Wall Street Journal, 2026. Whirlpool statement following Supreme Court IEEPA ruling.
The Wall Street Journal, “Tariffs Helped a South Carolina Town,” February 8, 2025; Jeff Ferry, Chief Economist, CPA.
MADE IN AMERICA.
CPA is the leading national, bipartisan organization exclusively representing domestic producers and workers across many industries and sectors of the U.S. economy.
Started in America. Stayed in America. Whirlpool Corporation’s Ohio Investments and the Case for Domestic Manufacturing
On April 10, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will tour Whirlpool Corporation’s washing machine plant in Clyde, Ohio, and hold a press conference alongside the company’s leadership. The visit is the marquee stop on Ambassador Greer’s manufacturing swing through Michigan and Ohio. The reason is clear: Clyde is home to the largest washing machine factory in the world, in continuous operation since 1952, and a living testament to what American manufacturing can achieve when a company refuses to leave.
Whirlpool Corporation is the last major kitchen and laundry appliance company headquartered, owned, and primarily manufacturing in the United States. Founded in Benton Harbor, Michigan, in 1911, the company has spent more than a century building appliances on American soil while its competitors either left for cheaper production overseas or were sold outright to foreign buyers.That distinction carries real economic weight: 20,000 U.S. employees, 14,000 of them manufacturing workers, across 11 domestic production plants. Fortune named Whirlpool the No. 1 most admired company in home equipment and furnishings for 2026, and TIME named it one of America’s Most Iconic Companies, the only home-appliance maker to earn the designation.
A $300 Million Bet on Ohio
In October 2025, Whirlpool Corp. announced a $300 million investment in its U.S. laundry operations, concentrated at its Clyde and Marion, Ohio, facilities. The investment is expected to create 400 to 600 new jobs directly and support an estimated 5,000 additional positions in supplier and service industries across the state. A full new production shift launched in early 2026. Financial support from JobsOhio and state tax credits is accelerating the buildout.
“Whirlpool Corporation’s unwavering commitment to American manufacturing is a cornerstone of our identity,” said Chairman and CEO Marc Bitzer. “This $300 million investment in our Clyde and Marion facilities underscores our dedication to creating jobs, fostering innovation, and delivering high-quality, American-made appliances to U.S. consumers.”
The Clyde plant produces more than four million washers a year. The Marion dryer factory celebrated its 70th anniversary in September 2025, and one-third of its employees have worked at the facility for more than 20 years. Whirlpool is also opening a new state-of-the-art production facility in Perrysburg, Ohio, investing over $60 million and creating 100 to 150 additional jobs. The Perrysburg plant will handle component manufacturing and subassembly work to support laundry production at Clyde and Marion, bringing more of the supply chain in-house. Kristin Day, Whirlpool’s Vice President of U.S. Manufacturing, captured what the investment means for the workers and communities behind these numbers: “We are proud to reinforce our commitment to the communities and plants where generations have not only built appliances but careers, families and futures.”
The Competitive Edge of Making It Here
Whirlpool Corporation’s domestic manufacturing base gives the company a structural advantage that grows more valuable as trade policy corrects decades of imbalance. Eighty percent of the major appliances Whirlpool Corp. sells in the U.S. are produced in the U.S. The vast majority of materials and components used in its American factories are sourced domestically, including approximately 96% of its steel content. No major competitor comes close. The industry average for domestic production among appliance brands is roughly 25%.
The contrast with Whirlpool Corporation’s rivals is stark. GE Appliances was sold to China’s Qingdao Haier in 2016 for $5.6 billion, putting a recognizable kitchen brand under Chinese ownership. The vast majority of appliances sold in the United States by Korean manufacturers LG and Samsung are produced in foreign factories. When tariffs raise the cost of imported goods, these companies absorb the full impact. Whirlpool Corporation’s tariff burden is minimized precisely because the company makes its products where it sells them.
Tariffs and the Level Playing Field
The appliance industry offers one of the clearest illustrations of how tariff policy can reward domestic investment. Even after the Supreme Court struck down the broader IEEPA-based reciprocal tariff regime in February 2026, steel and aluminum tariffs, duties on imported appliances, and the 10% global baseline tariff all remain in place. Whirlpool Corp. said those measures “gave it confidence that it would ultimately benefit from the administration’s trade policies.”
As CPA’s Chief Economist Emeritus Jeff Ferry has argued, “Tariffs done right can rebuild our economy.” The appliance sector proves the point. First-term tariffs on washing machines forced foreign competitors to absorb higher costs on their imports, while domestic producers like Whirlpool Corp. saw the competitive gap narrow. The current tariff environment extends that logic across the full product line. Foreign rivals that chose to produce offshore are now paying for that decision. Whirlpool Corporation, which stayed through decades of offshoring pressure and the competitive onslaught of subsidized Asian imports, is finally getting a level playing field that will allow them to take advantage of their American production.
The Broader Lesson
Whirlpool Corporation’s story validates a central premise of the pro-industrialization agenda: companies that invest in America can compete and win when trade policy stops subsidizing offshoring. For decades, the prevailing economic consensus held that domestic manufacturing was a relic, that American firms could not compete with low-cost Asian production, and that consumers were better served by cheap imports regardless of what they cost in jobs and industrial capacity. Whirlpool Corporation’s continued investment proves the opposite conclusion.
When Ambassador Greer walks the floor of the Clyde plant on April 10, he will see what 115 years of commitment to domestic production has built: 8,000 manufacturing workers across six Ohio facilities, a company that sources 96% of its steel from American mills, and a $300 million expansion that is adding hundreds of jobs in communities where families have built careers on the factory floor for three generations. Six Ohio plants, $23 billion in U.S. spending over the past decade, and a new vertically integrated facility in Perrysburg that will drive greater competitiveness.
Washington should take notice. Maintaining steel tariffs, enforcing duties on imported appliances, and ensuring a durable, predictable tariff framework will keep the incentive structure that rewards companies like Whirlpool for staying and investing in the United States.
Started in America. Stayed in America. And now, expanding in America.
REFERENCES
MADE IN AMERICA.
CPA is the leading national, bipartisan organization exclusively representing domestic producers and workers across many industries and sectors of the U.S. economy.
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