Liberation Day 2025: A Turning Point for American Manufacturing and Industrial Policy
Key Points
Liberation Day Tariffs Mark a Historic Shift Toward Production-Led Prosperity President Trump’s April 2 tariff actions are a turning point in U.S. economic policy, aimed at ending decades of deindustrialization and destructive trade policy by prioritizing American manufacturing over foreign dependence and financial speculation.
Tariffs Will Spur Investment, Job Creation, and Wage Growth in U.S. Manufacturing As seen after Trump’s 2018 tariffs, strong trade measures lead to billions in domestic investment, thousands of new jobs, and higher wages. The 2025 tariffs will trigger even greater growth, especially in underutilized industries like steel, autos, electronics, and more.
Manufacturing Revitalization Drives Broader Economic Benefits With one of the highest job multipliers in the economy, every new manufacturing job supports 5–7 additional jobs in supply chains and local services. Tariffs will revitalize entire communities and rebuild the American middle class.
Domestic Production Strengthens Innovation, Technology, and Supply Chains Rebuilding U.S. industry is also critical for technological leadership and national security. Innovation thrives when R&D and manufacturing are co-located, and domestic production protects the U.S. from future supply shocks like those experienced during COVID-19.
Sector-Specific Tariffs Are the Necessary Next Step To fully restore American industry, the U.S. must move toward tailored tariffs for strategic sectors such as steel, aluminum, copper, pharmaceuticals, autos, semiconductors, and many more. This ensures long-term competitiveness, security, and economic sovereignty of the United States.
Liberation Day
On April 2, President Donald Trump took bold and historic action to defend American industry with the announcement of sweeping new tariffs aimed at countering unfair foreign trade practices and reigniting U.S. manufacturing. Dubbed “Liberation Day”, this policy marks the first major step in a new era of economic revitalization—one where the United States refuses to accept the systematic dismantling of its industrial base and begins to chart a path back to true production-led prosperity.
The Liberation Day tariffs target imports from most foreign countries with tariff rates ranging from 10% or more based on country-specific foreign trade practices that undercut U.S. producers through dumping, state subsidies, and trade imbalances. The first priority of these tariffs is to promote, protect, and encourage investment in American manufacturing.
As the U.S. trade deficit broke records over the past decades with ongoing free trade measures, imports soon took over large portions of the U.S. market and devastated the U.S. manufacturing sector and its workers. These same countries with which we have a trade deficit import only minimal levels of American goods, even with free trade agreements and low tariffs for U.S. products. Exports are not the avenue for prosperity. U.S. exports in 2024 were only 11% of GDP. Meanwhile, domestic U.S. consumption was nearly 70% in 2024. The domestic market is always the key economic foundation, especially for domestic companies.
These tariff actions are not about punishing the rest of the world. These tariff actions are about creating an era of prosperity for American producers and workers. These actions are a historic turning point from decades of trade policies that prioritized consumption over production, Wall Street over Main Street, and globalism over national strength, all to the detriment of the American worker and the hollowing out of the American middle class.
Tariffs Spur Domestic Investments
President Trump’s new tariffs are more than a policy shift, they are a revival strategy for American manufacturing. After years of deindustrialization, President Trump’s tariffs finally give American producers breathing room to grow, invest, and compete. The tariffs are not just defensive—they are catalytic. By raising the cost of unfair imports, they redirect investment away from financial speculation and foreign outsourcing, and toward domestic production and tangible capital formation.
We’ve seen this before. Following the Trump tariffs of 2018—targeting steel, aluminum, solar panels, and washing machines—the U.S. saw a historic surge in investments in the tariff-boosted industries. The Section 232 steel measures led to investments in more than 15 new steel furnaces and mills across the country. These new projects represent some $20 billion of investment and the creation of over 4,000 jobs.
In 2019, Steel Dynamics announced a $1.9 billion, 2,600-acre facility, and 600 employee flat roll steel mill in Sinton, TX, which was completed in 2022. This facility is now operational and producing steel.
Nucor announced a $1.7 billion investment in a steel plate mill in Brandenburg, Kentucky in 2019 and completed the project in 2023, with 440 jobs added.
In 2020, Commercial Metals Company announced plans to construct a new $300 million micro mill to produce rebar and merchant bar quality (MBQ) products and create 185 additional jobs. The facility was completed in 2023.
This was a signal to the world: if you want access to the American market, you’ll need to produce in America. That lesson still holds true, and Liberation Day tariffs will trigger another even larger wave of investment in U.S.-based factories and facilities, substantially boosting employment, wages, and opportunities for American workers.
Jobs and Higher Wages for Middle Class Americans
The economic benefits of this shift will be far-reaching and deeply felt. New manufacturing facilities mean new jobs—good-paying, stable jobs that support families and strengthen communities. Unlike much of the low-wage service sector, manufacturing offers high wages relative to the education level required. As shown in Figure 1, the average manufacturing wage is 14% above the total private sector average, 89% above retail trade, and 144% above leisure and hospitality.
FIGURE 1:
Moreover, manufacturing has one of the highest job multiplier effects in the economy. According to an Economic Policy Institute analysis, each new manufacturing job creates 5-7 additional jobs in supply chains, local services, and public infrastructure. That means new production facilities don’t just hire the direct employees—they anchor entire local economies. This revival in American production will breathe new life into small towns, mid-size cities, and industrial regions long forgotten by Washington free traders.
FIGURE 2: Employment Multipliers in the U.S. Economy
Major industry group
Direct Jobs
Supplier Jobs
Induced Jobs
Total Indirect Jobs
Utilities
100
515.4
442.2
957.7
Real estate and rental leasing
100
396.6
483.1
879.7
Durable manufacturing
100
289.1
454.9
744.1
Information
100
252
321.1
573.1
Nondurable manufacturing
100
184.8
329.5
514.3
Professional, scientific, and technical services
100
142.1
276.2
418.3
Management of companies
100
144.4
255.4
399.9
Mining
100
224
166
390
Arts, entertainment, and recreation
100
123.3
255.2
378.5
Finance and insurance
100
149.7
214.7
364.4
Transportation and warehousing
100
112.8
163.3
276
Wholesale trade
100
107.3
128
235.3
Agriculture, forest, fishing, and hunting
100
93.6
134.8
228.5
Construction
100
88
138.1
226.1
Other services (except public administration)
100
70.7
139.6
210.3
Health care and social assistance
100
69.4
136.2
205.6
Educational services
100
63.8
129.9
193.7
Accommodation and food services
100
53.8
107.4
161.2
Administrative and support services and waste management
100
45.5
89.1
134.5
Retail trade
100
46.7
75.4
122.1
Source: Economic Policy Institute
Job creation was a clear benefit of the 2018 steel tariffs. Steel and iron mill employment jumped by 1,600 jobs in 2018 and another 3,200 in 2019. The steel product manufacturing sector saw a similar rise, adding 2,300 jobs in 2018 and 2019. The job creation impact of President Trump’s new broad Liberation Day tariffs will be magnitudes greater.
5.7% rise in real household income (equivalent to $4,252)
President Trump’s new tariffs go well beyond this and will compound these benefits with far greater gains for American businesses and workers. These higher tariff rates will be a springboard for American production and U.S. investment with widespread economic benefits.
Production Boost: Lower Costs and Technological Innovation
And there’s no need to wait for entirely new factories to see benefits. Many American companies, especially in critical sectors like automobiles, steel, electronics, and communications equipment, currently operate well below full capacity. With demand redirected away from imports, these firms can quickly ramp up production without massive new capital expenditures. As shown in figure 3, all these sectors and more have a capacity utilization of 56-76%. By reaching 90% capacity utilization, these sectors could quickly increase U.S. production by 20-40%. Correcting this production slack will deliver an early boost in output and hiring and mitigate short-term price and supply changes as U.S. domestic production capacity further increases with new long-term investments.
FIGURE 3:
Furthermore, tariffs and trade in general have only minimal impact on inflation and prices for consumers. An OECD study estimated that globalization lowered annual inflation by only 0.1% in the U.S., and by only 0.2% in the Euro area between 1996 and 2005. The Boston Federal Reserve and the Congressional Budget Office have also posted low price impact projections for the various Trump tariff proposals (one-time 0.6% to 2.2% spread out over several years depending on the tariff policy).
U.S. manufacturing will also see continuing gains as production scales up and firms gain economies of scale. Over time, domestic producers will have lower per-unit costs by increasing output and spreading fixed costs more efficiently. The same tariff policies that initially protect domestic producers from foreign undercutting also give them room to grow. This will further mitigate any cost pressure from the new tariffs and hold prices down for the American consumer.
And as American companies reinvest in production, they don’t just build things—they innovate. Manufacturing is a key driver of technological progress. Innovation does not happen in a vacuum; it happens in the feedback loop between the lab and the factory floor. Studies have continuously shown the substantial technological benefits and “continued value of physical proximity through geographical colocation between manufacturing and R&D.” That’s why American companies that still build here, like Tesla which invests heavily in R&D and stations design engineers at manufacturing facilities, are among the most technologically advanced in the world. The erosion of U.S. production over the last 30 years has also weakened our innovation pipeline. Rebuilding domestic manufacturing is not just an economic imperative—it’s a national science and technology strategy.
Strategic Security and Supply Chain Resilience
Beyond the economic gains, the Liberation Day tariffs will make the United States supply chain safer and more self-reliant. This shift from production to import reliance has left the U.S. dependent on foreign suppliers for many essential goods, impacting everything from consumer electronics to critical materials needed for national defense.
The COVID-19 crisis exposed just how vulnerable our globalized supply chains really are. Critical goods like ventilators, masks, and pharmaceutical ingredients were in short supply—not because we lacked the capability to produce them, but because decades of offshoring had hollowed out our industrial capacity. For example, an NIH study outlined how during the COVID crisis, “With heavy reliance on global suppliers, America struggled to secure the necessary equipment and protective gear when the health crisis hit and disrupted nearly every link in the global supply chain.” The U.S. was over-reliant on foreign manufacturers, with insufficient industrial base to meet demand during a crisis. The study continues, “Throughout the three waves of infection, there were glaring deficiencies in the domestic manufacturing ability to provide necessary supplies.”
The U.S.’s overreliance on imports has also contributed to price volatility in recent years. According to a study by the Federal Reserve, during the COVID crisis, “The shift in demand toward durable goods consumption and the heavy reliance on foreign suppliers to produce these goods has created a mismatch between supply and demand resulting in price increases. Sectors that rely more heavily on foreign inputs from countries that faced stronger disruptions experienced larger increases in PPI inflation.”
Tariffs that encourage domestic production and manufacturing reshoring reverse this trend and substantially reduce inflation risks caused by these global supply chain disturbances. No longer will we depend on hostile or unstable nations for basic necessities. Liberation Day is about reclaiming our industrial sovereignty and ensuring that the United States can provide for its own needs in times of crisis.
Return to a Manufacturing Norm
Importantly, the goal of an American manufacturing resurgence is completely within historic and even international norms. U.S. manufacturing currently accounts for only about 10% of the GDP, a significant decline from the 1950s through the 1970s when it comprised 21-25% of GDP.
Moreover, while the United States policy for the past decades has allowed this deindustrialization, many other peer nations have preserved and promoted their manufacturing sectors. As shown in Figure 4, countries like Germany, South Korea, and Japan have maintained their manufacturing sectors at about 19-25% of GDP, a level the U.S. has not had since around 1980. The U.S. is substantially below average compared to other peer economies in terms of manufacturing’s share of total GDP. Even other high-cost countries like Switzerland, Finland, and Austria have managed to keep their manufacturing sectors at around 15% of GDP or higher. The U.S. tariff and manufacturing goals are not abnormal, they are a return to normal.
FIGURE 4:
The U.S. is the only major nation without an industrial policy, until today. Countries like Germany, China, Japan, South Korea, and more have all used market protections, subsidies, and other support to boost their manufacturing base for decades. Japan is one of the best examples for how a thorough and long-term industrial policy can reap massive gains for a country’s industry. A U.S. Congressional study sums up Japan’s industrial policy, stating “Policies towards nurturing an internationally competitive automobile industry followed a pattern similar to those of the steel industry: heavy protection and subsidization, incentives for investment in technology, and increased concentration in the industry.” These policies also allowed Japan to excel in industries such as electronics in future decades and maintain a strong manufacturing presence to this day.
Liberation Day marks the first serious effort to restore America’s production potential. President Trump’s message is that if you want to sell in America, then you must manufacture in America. Otherwise, you will face consequences. These actions are not restrictive—they are a catalyst for a manufacturing golden era and a windfall for the American worker, the American entrepreneur, and the American way of life.
Next Steps: Need for Industry-Specific Tariffs
Looking ahead, the Liberation Day tariffs must be the foundation—not the finish line—of a broader strategy to rebuild America’s industrial base. The next critical step is implementing sector-specific tariffs tailored to the unique needs and vulnerabilities of key U.S. industries. A one-size-fits-all tariff regime cannot address the diverse challenges faced by sectors like automotives, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, steel, aluminum, copper, and more.
For example, the U.S. steel and aluminum industries remain burdened by ongoing global overcapacity and require strong, permanent protections, such as those being re-calibrated under the Section 232 investigations. The copper industry, which is vital for renewable energy and electrification, faces unfair import pressures from low-cost producers abroad. Meanwhile, the U.S. pharmaceutical supply chain remains dangerously reliant on China and India for products, posing economic, national security, and health risks. For example, generic drugs from India were found to be 54% more likely to cause severe adverse events.
Other active trade cases and Section 232 investigations into numerous sectors show that the threat is widespread and sector-specific. The U.S. must now move toward a strategic, data-driven tariff system that adjusts duties based on each industry’s capacity utilization, employment trends, import penetration, exposure to unfair trade practices, and other unique industry-specific indicators. This tailored approach will ensure that each pillar of the American manufacturing economy receives the precise support needed to thrive, grow, and secure the country’s future.
Conclusion: The Return of American Greatness Through Production
Liberation Day 2025 marks the rebirth of the American industrial spirit. For too long, Washington sold out American workers in pursuit of a globalist fantasy—one where America consumed while others produced, and the middle class was left to fade. President Trump’s decisive tariffs are a declaration that those days are over. The United States will no longer tolerate excessive imports, chronic trade imbalances, and the hollowing out of our production base. This is a new era of bold industrial policy—one rooted in national economic interest, not ideological free trade dogma.
With these tariffs, we are laying the foundation for a 21st-century manufacturing boom: millions of new jobs, rising wages, surging investment, and technological leadership forged not in theory, but on the factory floor. The benefits will ripple across the economy—from working families to research labs, from small towns to major cities. And this resurgence isn’t just economically smart—it’s strategically essential. In an unstable world, a strong America must be a self-sufficient America.
But this is only the beginning. To fully realize this vision, we must move swiftly to sector-specific tariffs that surgically defend and restore core American industries—steel, aluminum, copper, pharmaceuticals, autos, semiconductors, agriculture, and more. With tailored, data-driven industry protections, we can reverse the damage done by decades of economic surrender and rebuild an economy that works for Americans first.
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.
Why the U.S. Needs President Trump’s Tariffs
Liberation Day 2025: A Turning Point for American Manufacturing and Industrial Policy
Key Points
President Trump’s April 2 tariff actions are a turning point in U.S. economic policy, aimed at ending decades of deindustrialization and destructive trade policy by prioritizing American manufacturing over foreign dependence and financial speculation.
As seen after Trump’s 2018 tariffs, strong trade measures lead to billions in domestic investment, thousands of new jobs, and higher wages. The 2025 tariffs will trigger even greater growth, especially in underutilized industries like steel, autos, electronics, and more.
With one of the highest job multipliers in the economy, every new manufacturing job supports 5–7 additional jobs in supply chains and local services. Tariffs will revitalize entire communities and rebuild the American middle class.
Rebuilding U.S. industry is also critical for technological leadership and national security. Innovation thrives when R&D and manufacturing are co-located, and domestic production protects the U.S. from future supply shocks like those experienced during COVID-19.
To fully restore American industry, the U.S. must move toward tailored tariffs for strategic sectors such as steel, aluminum, copper, pharmaceuticals, autos, semiconductors, and many more. This ensures long-term competitiveness, security, and economic sovereignty of the United States.
Liberation Day
On April 2, President Donald Trump took bold and historic action to defend American industry with the announcement of sweeping new tariffs aimed at countering unfair foreign trade practices and reigniting U.S. manufacturing. Dubbed “Liberation Day”, this policy marks the first major step in a new era of economic revitalization—one where the United States refuses to accept the systematic dismantling of its industrial base and begins to chart a path back to true production-led prosperity.
The Liberation Day tariffs target imports from most foreign countries with tariff rates ranging from 10% or more based on country-specific foreign trade practices that undercut U.S. producers through dumping, state subsidies, and trade imbalances. The first priority of these tariffs is to promote, protect, and encourage investment in American manufacturing.
As the U.S. trade deficit broke records over the past decades with ongoing free trade measures, imports soon took over large portions of the U.S. market and devastated the U.S. manufacturing sector and its workers. These same countries with which we have a trade deficit import only minimal levels of American goods, even with free trade agreements and low tariffs for U.S. products. Exports are not the avenue for prosperity. U.S. exports in 2024 were only 11% of GDP. Meanwhile, domestic U.S. consumption was nearly 70% in 2024. The domestic market is always the key economic foundation, especially for domestic companies.
These tariff actions are not about punishing the rest of the world. These tariff actions are about creating an era of prosperity for American producers and workers. These actions are a historic turning point from decades of trade policies that prioritized consumption over production, Wall Street over Main Street, and globalism over national strength, all to the detriment of the American worker and the hollowing out of the American middle class.
Tariffs Spur Domestic Investments
President Trump’s new tariffs are more than a policy shift, they are a revival strategy for American manufacturing. After years of deindustrialization, President Trump’s tariffs finally give American producers breathing room to grow, invest, and compete. The tariffs are not just defensive—they are catalytic. By raising the cost of unfair imports, they redirect investment away from financial speculation and foreign outsourcing, and toward domestic production and tangible capital formation.
We’ve seen this before. Following the Trump tariffs of 2018—targeting steel, aluminum, solar panels, and washing machines—the U.S. saw a historic surge in investments in the tariff-boosted industries. The Section 232 steel measures led to investments in more than 15 new steel furnaces and mills across the country. These new projects represent some $20 billion of investment and the creation of over 4,000 jobs.
This was a signal to the world: if you want access to the American market, you’ll need to produce in America. That lesson still holds true, and Liberation Day tariffs will trigger another even larger wave of investment in U.S.-based factories and facilities, substantially boosting employment, wages, and opportunities for American workers.
Jobs and Higher Wages for Middle Class Americans
The economic benefits of this shift will be far-reaching and deeply felt. New manufacturing facilities mean new jobs—good-paying, stable jobs that support families and strengthen communities. Unlike much of the low-wage service sector, manufacturing offers high wages relative to the education level required. As shown in Figure 1, the average manufacturing wage is 14% above the total private sector average, 89% above retail trade, and 144% above leisure and hospitality.
FIGURE 1:
Moreover, manufacturing has one of the highest job multiplier effects in the economy. According to an Economic Policy Institute analysis, each new manufacturing job creates 5-7 additional jobs in supply chains, local services, and public infrastructure. That means new production facilities don’t just hire the direct employees—they anchor entire local economies. This revival in American production will breathe new life into small towns, mid-size cities, and industrial regions long forgotten by Washington free traders.
FIGURE 2: Employment Multipliers in the U.S. Economy
Major industry group
Direct Jobs
Supplier Jobs
Induced Jobs
Total Indirect Jobs
Utilities
100
515.4
442.2
957.7
Real estate and rental leasing
100
396.6
483.1
879.7
Durable manufacturing
100
289.1
454.9
744.1
Information
100
252
321.1
573.1
Nondurable manufacturing
100
184.8
329.5
514.3
Professional, scientific, and technical services
100
142.1
276.2
418.3
Management of companies
100
144.4
255.4
399.9
Mining
100
224
166
390
Arts, entertainment, and recreation
100
123.3
255.2
378.5
Finance and insurance
100
149.7
214.7
364.4
Transportation and warehousing
100
112.8
163.3
276
Wholesale trade
100
107.3
128
235.3
Agriculture, forest, fishing, and hunting
100
93.6
134.8
228.5
Construction
100
88
138.1
226.1
Other services (except public administration)
100
70.7
139.6
210.3
Health care and social assistance
100
69.4
136.2
205.6
Educational services
100
63.8
129.9
193.7
Accommodation and food services
100
53.8
107.4
161.2
Administrative and support services and waste management
100
45.5
89.1
134.5
Retail trade
100
46.7
75.4
122.1
Source: Economic Policy Institute
Job creation was a clear benefit of the 2018 steel tariffs. Steel and iron mill employment jumped by 1,600 jobs in 2018 and another 3,200 in 2019. The steel product manufacturing sector saw a similar rise, adding 2,300 jobs in 2018 and 2019. The job creation impact of President Trump’s new broad Liberation Day tariffs will be magnitudes greater.
CPA previously modeled substantial benefits from a modest global 10% tariff, including:
President Trump’s new tariffs go well beyond this and will compound these benefits with far greater gains for American businesses and workers. These higher tariff rates will be a springboard for American production and U.S. investment with widespread economic benefits.
Production Boost: Lower Costs and Technological Innovation
And there’s no need to wait for entirely new factories to see benefits. Many American companies, especially in critical sectors like automobiles, steel, electronics, and communications equipment, currently operate well below full capacity. With demand redirected away from imports, these firms can quickly ramp up production without massive new capital expenditures. As shown in figure 3, all these sectors and more have a capacity utilization of 56-76%. By reaching 90% capacity utilization, these sectors could quickly increase U.S. production by 20-40%. Correcting this production slack will deliver an early boost in output and hiring and mitigate short-term price and supply changes as U.S. domestic production capacity further increases with new long-term investments.
FIGURE 3:
Furthermore, tariffs and trade in general have only minimal impact on inflation and prices for consumers. An OECD study estimated that globalization lowered annual inflation by only 0.1% in the U.S., and by only 0.2% in the Euro area between 1996 and 2005. The Boston Federal Reserve and the Congressional Budget Office have also posted low price impact projections for the various Trump tariff proposals (one-time 0.6% to 2.2% spread out over several years depending on the tariff policy).
U.S. manufacturing will also see continuing gains as production scales up and firms gain economies of scale. Over time, domestic producers will have lower per-unit costs by increasing output and spreading fixed costs more efficiently. The same tariff policies that initially protect domestic producers from foreign undercutting also give them room to grow. This will further mitigate any cost pressure from the new tariffs and hold prices down for the American consumer.
And as American companies reinvest in production, they don’t just build things—they innovate. Manufacturing is a key driver of technological progress. Innovation does not happen in a vacuum; it happens in the feedback loop between the lab and the factory floor. Studies have continuously shown the substantial technological benefits and “continued value of physical proximity through geographical colocation between manufacturing and R&D.” That’s why American companies that still build here, like Tesla which invests heavily in R&D and stations design engineers at manufacturing facilities, are among the most technologically advanced in the world. The erosion of U.S. production over the last 30 years has also weakened our innovation pipeline. Rebuilding domestic manufacturing is not just an economic imperative—it’s a national science and technology strategy.
Strategic Security and Supply Chain Resilience
Beyond the economic gains, the Liberation Day tariffs will make the United States supply chain safer and more self-reliant. This shift from production to import reliance has left the U.S. dependent on foreign suppliers for many essential goods, impacting everything from consumer electronics to critical materials needed for national defense.
The COVID-19 crisis exposed just how vulnerable our globalized supply chains really are. Critical goods like ventilators, masks, and pharmaceutical ingredients were in short supply—not because we lacked the capability to produce them, but because decades of offshoring had hollowed out our industrial capacity. For example, an NIH study outlined how during the COVID crisis, “With heavy reliance on global suppliers, America struggled to secure the necessary equipment and protective gear when the health crisis hit and disrupted nearly every link in the global supply chain.” The U.S. was over-reliant on foreign manufacturers, with insufficient industrial base to meet demand during a crisis. The study continues, “Throughout the three waves of infection, there were glaring deficiencies in the domestic manufacturing ability to provide necessary supplies.”
The U.S.’s overreliance on imports has also contributed to price volatility in recent years. According to a study by the Federal Reserve, during the COVID crisis, “The shift in demand toward durable goods consumption and the heavy reliance on foreign suppliers to produce these goods has created a mismatch between supply and demand resulting in price increases. Sectors that rely more heavily on foreign inputs from countries that faced stronger disruptions experienced larger increases in PPI inflation.”
Tariffs that encourage domestic production and manufacturing reshoring reverse this trend and substantially reduce inflation risks caused by these global supply chain disturbances. No longer will we depend on hostile or unstable nations for basic necessities. Liberation Day is about reclaiming our industrial sovereignty and ensuring that the United States can provide for its own needs in times of crisis.
Return to a Manufacturing Norm
Importantly, the goal of an American manufacturing resurgence is completely within historic and even international norms. U.S. manufacturing currently accounts for only about 10% of the GDP, a significant decline from the 1950s through the 1970s when it comprised 21-25% of GDP.
Moreover, while the United States policy for the past decades has allowed this deindustrialization, many other peer nations have preserved and promoted their manufacturing sectors. As shown in Figure 4, countries like Germany, South Korea, and Japan have maintained their manufacturing sectors at about 19-25% of GDP, a level the U.S. has not had since around 1980. The U.S. is substantially below average compared to other peer economies in terms of manufacturing’s share of total GDP. Even other high-cost countries like Switzerland, Finland, and Austria have managed to keep their manufacturing sectors at around 15% of GDP or higher. The U.S. tariff and manufacturing goals are not abnormal, they are a return to normal.
FIGURE 4:
The U.S. is the only major nation without an industrial policy, until today. Countries like Germany, China, Japan, South Korea, and more have all used market protections, subsidies, and other support to boost their manufacturing base for decades. Japan is one of the best examples for how a thorough and long-term industrial policy can reap massive gains for a country’s industry. A U.S. Congressional study sums up Japan’s industrial policy, stating “Policies towards nurturing an internationally competitive automobile industry followed a pattern similar to those of the steel industry: heavy protection and subsidization, incentives for investment in technology, and increased concentration in the industry.” These policies also allowed Japan to excel in industries such as electronics in future decades and maintain a strong manufacturing presence to this day.
Liberation Day marks the first serious effort to restore America’s production potential. President Trump’s message is that if you want to sell in America, then you must manufacture in America. Otherwise, you will face consequences. These actions are not restrictive—they are a catalyst for a manufacturing golden era and a windfall for the American worker, the American entrepreneur, and the American way of life.
Next Steps: Need for Industry-Specific Tariffs
Looking ahead, the Liberation Day tariffs must be the foundation—not the finish line—of a broader strategy to rebuild America’s industrial base. The next critical step is implementing sector-specific tariffs tailored to the unique needs and vulnerabilities of key U.S. industries. A one-size-fits-all tariff regime cannot address the diverse challenges faced by sectors like automotives, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, steel, aluminum, copper, and more.
For example, the U.S. steel and aluminum industries remain burdened by ongoing global overcapacity and require strong, permanent protections, such as those being re-calibrated under the Section 232 investigations. The copper industry, which is vital for renewable energy and electrification, faces unfair import pressures from low-cost producers abroad. Meanwhile, the U.S. pharmaceutical supply chain remains dangerously reliant on China and India for products, posing economic, national security, and health risks. For example, generic drugs from India were found to be 54% more likely to cause severe adverse events.
Other active trade cases and Section 232 investigations into numerous sectors show that the threat is widespread and sector-specific. The U.S. must now move toward a strategic, data-driven tariff system that adjusts duties based on each industry’s capacity utilization, employment trends, import penetration, exposure to unfair trade practices, and other unique industry-specific indicators. This tailored approach will ensure that each pillar of the American manufacturing economy receives the precise support needed to thrive, grow, and secure the country’s future.
Conclusion: The Return of American Greatness Through Production
Liberation Day 2025 marks the rebirth of the American industrial spirit. For too long, Washington sold out American workers in pursuit of a globalist fantasy—one where America consumed while others produced, and the middle class was left to fade. President Trump’s decisive tariffs are a declaration that those days are over. The United States will no longer tolerate excessive imports, chronic trade imbalances, and the hollowing out of our production base. This is a new era of bold industrial policy—one rooted in national economic interest, not ideological free trade dogma.
With these tariffs, we are laying the foundation for a 21st-century manufacturing boom: millions of new jobs, rising wages, surging investment, and technological leadership forged not in theory, but on the factory floor. The benefits will ripple across the economy—from working families to research labs, from small towns to major cities. And this resurgence isn’t just economically smart—it’s strategically essential. In an unstable world, a strong America must be a self-sufficient America.
But this is only the beginning. To fully realize this vision, we must move swiftly to sector-specific tariffs that surgically defend and restore core American industries—steel, aluminum, copper, pharmaceuticals, autos, semiconductors, agriculture, and more. With tailored, data-driven industry protections, we can reverse the damage done by decades of economic surrender and rebuild an economy that works for Americans first.
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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