Highlights:
Manufacturing Jobs Decreased Under The Trump Administration. According to Yahoo Finance, “Another measure is manufacturing jobs. Trump often touted his success in bringing manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. That figure (seasonally adjusted) over the last four years also shows a decrease. There were 12.37 million manufacturing workers in 2017 and there are 12.31 million now.” [Yahoo Finance, 1/8/21]
Economist: Trump Ended With 2,000 Fewer Workers In The Steel Industry Than When It Began. According to the Brookings Trade Podcast, “So, after a very brief increase, the steel industry itself started to shed jobs even before the economic downturn caused by the pandemic. Today, it employs almost 2,000 fewer workers than it did when Trump took office.” [Brookings Trade Podcast, 10/19/20]
Economist: Trump "Put Manufacturing Into A Recession” With “His Ill-Advised Tariff Tantrums.” According to the Brookings Trade Podcast, “So over the years of the Obama administration there was a gradual recovery in manufacturing jobs and hours worked. Trump managed to destroy that through his ill-advised tariff tantrums in a short two years and put manufacturing into a recession. He was like a child taking a toy, a nice toy that somebody had, playing rough with it and breaking it. And this was even before the economy went into a tailspin due to his mishandling of the coronavirus.” [Brookings Trade Podcast, 10/19/20]
2016: Trump Promised That Warren, Michigan “Won’t Lose One Plant.” According to the Messenger, “‘You’re not going to lose your jobs anymore. You’re not going to lose your jobs anymore,’ Trump said at that final rally in Michigan in 2016. ‘We are going to bring back the automobile in the state of Michigan bigger, and better, and stronger than ever before.’ Trump made similar promises when he stumped in Warren, Michigan near the end of the 2016 campaign, telling the audience that workers ‘won’t lose one plant’ and repeating the promise multiple times. ‘You won’t lose one plant, I promise you that,’ Trump said.” [Messenger, 9/27/23]
2019: General Motors Closed Its Transmission Plant In Warren. According to the Messenger, “Less than a year later, General Motors announced layoffs at its plant in Warren. In 2019, the company announced it would fully close the transmission plant, along with four others.” [Messenger, 9/27/23]
2017: Trump Promised That All The Jobs At A Plant In Youngstown, Ohio Would Come Back. According to the Messenger, “During a 2017 rally in Youngstown, Ohio, Trump – then president – said the manufacturing jobs that would be cut by the planned closure of the nearby General Motors plant in Lordstown are ‘all coming back.’ ‘They’re all coming back. Don’t move, don’t sell your house,’ Trump said to the audience a few miles from the plant. ‘We’re going to fill up those factories or rip them down and build new ones.’ He later said, ‘After years and years of sending our jobs and wealth to other countries, we are finally standing up for our workers and for our companies. ... We never again will sacrifice Ohio jobs and those in other states to enrich other countries.’” [Messenger, 9/27/23]
2019: The Youngstown Plant Shut Down. According to the Messenger, “Trump’s pressure campaign, however, did not work: The plant shut down in 2019.” [Messenger, 9/27/23]
Trump Used Chinese Steel To Build His Las Vegas Property
Trump Stiffed American Steel Workers On His Construction Projects For Years, Opting Instead For Chinese Steel. According to Newsweek, “Plenty of blue-collar workers believe that, as president, Donald Trump would be ready to fight off U.S. trade adversaries and reinvigorate the country’s manufacturing industries through his commitment to the Rust Belt. What they likely don’t know is that Trump has been stiffing American steel workers on his own construction projects for years, choosing to deprive untold millions of dollars from four key electoral swing states and instead directing it to China—the country whose trade practices have helped decimate the once-powerful industrial center of the United States. A Newsweek investigation has found that in at least two of Trump’s last three construction projects, Trump opted to purchase his steel and aluminum from Chinese manufacturers rather than United States corporations based in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin.” [Newsweek, 10/3/16]
Trump Used Chinese Aluminum To Build His Chicago Tower
Trump Used Chinese Aluminum To Build His Chicago Tower Instead Of An American Producer Like Alcoa, Contributing To The U.S. Industry’s Collapse. According to Newsweek, “Another recent Trump building that has used metal from China is Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, which opened in 2009. For that project, Trump obtained loans from Deutsche Bank and three hedge funds that in turn used financing from George Soros, the business magnate who is the subject of many conservative conspiracy theories and is portrayed as a threat to the Republican Party.The [sic] building required tons of aluminum and Trump elected not to purchase the metal from Alcoa or any other similar American producer, but instead turn to a subsidiary of a Chinese aluminum manufacturer. Because American businesses have been turning to cheaper aluminum from overseas, the industry is collapsing. For example, in just the last two years, more than half of the country’s aluminum smelters in states like Ohio, West Virginia and Texas have closed as a result of being undercut on price by competition from overseas.” [Newsweek, 10/3/16]
Enclos Corp Installed The Silver Glass Curtainwall System At Trump SoHo. According to Enclos, “Trump SoHo represents the first luxury hotel condominium project in this lower Manhattan neighborhood. Standing at the corner of Spring and Varick Street as the tallest building between New York’s Financial. […] The silver glass curtainwall system employed by Enclos incorporates a transparent skin at public spaces and translucent skin at the building’s private sectors. The entrance level’s glass includes a metal-mesh interlayer and colored accents as a transitional effect.” [Enclos, 8/11/16]
Trump Said He Didn’t Want To Order Chinese Windows, But ,“It’s Hard To Get Them Anywhere Else.” According to the Daily Beast, “So you would figure that folks at the home of the Pella Corp. would remember Donald Trump’s declaration in 2010 that he had been forced to make a yuge order of windows from China because he had such difficulty finding any that were made in America. ‘I ordered windows, thousands of windows the other day; they’re made in China,’ Trump said during an interview with CNBC. ‘I don’t want to buy them, but it’s hard to get them anywhere else.’ The revelation had caused quite an uproar in the window industry. Trump had sought to smooth it over with a statement insisting ‘I would much rather buy ‘U.S’—and do much business with Pella—(and others). The U.S. product is better.’” [Daily Beast, 1/26/16]
Washington Post Headline: “Trump Has Profited From Foreign Labor He Says Is Killing U.S. Jobs.” [Washington Post, 3/13/16]
CNN Headline: “Donald Trump Sought Cheap Labor Overseas For Clothing Line.” [CNN, 5/26/16]
NPR Fact Check: The “Vast Majority” Of Trump-Branded Products Are Made Overseas. According to NPR, “It’s rigged by big businesses who want to leave our country, fire our workers, and sell their products back into the U.S. with absolutely no consequences for them. [Donald Trump has expressed great outrage over trade deals leading to the offshoring of American jobs. But when it comes to his own Trump-branded products, the vast majority are made overseas. — Tamara Keith]” [NPR, 6/22/16]
ABC News: Trump Contributed To The “Growth Of Chinese Manufacturing, Arguably At The Expense Of American Workers” With His Trump Brand Outsourcing. According to ABC News, “At the same time Trump was speaking in New Hampshire, his Trump Store was contributing to the growth of Chinese manufacturing, arguably at the expense of American workers, selling $80 Trump-branded cotton sweaters and $70 Trump-branded warm-up tops, all made in China. Also available with the made in China tag: golf hats stamped with the Trump crest and stuffed animals. Visitors also could buy leather made-in-China belts priced at $45 that are advertised as ‘So soft, it feels like a million bucks.’ And in the display case were neat stacks of colorful Trump-branded polo shirts that would be perfect wear for one of Trump’s golf courses. The shirts, which sell for $70, were not made in China, but nearby, in Korea and Thailand.” [ABC News, 4/28/11]
Washington Post: “Donald J. Trump Collection Shirts — As Well As EyeGlasses, Perfume, Cuff Links And Suits — Are Made In Bangladesh, China, Honduras And Other Low-Wage Countries.” According to the Washington Post, “Today, Donald J. Trump Collection shirts — as well as eyeglasses, perfume, cuff links and suits — are made in Bangladesh, China, Honduras and other low-wage countries.” [Washington Post, 3/13/16]
CNN Investigation: Trump And His Businesses Offshored Jobs To A Number Of Countries, Including Bangladesh, Indonesia, And China; Donald J. Trump Collection Was Produced By Factories In Central America And Asia. According to CNN, “Trump criticized politicians and business leaders, arguing that they created policies that allowed and encouraged the offshoring of American jobs to America’s competitors. ‘We got here because we switched from a policy of Americanism — focusing on what’s good for America’s middle class — to a policy of globalism, focusing on how to make money for large corporations who can move wealth and workers to foreign countries, all to the detriment of the American worker and the American economy itself,’ Trump said. A CNN investigation shows that Trump and his businesses offshored jobs to a number of countries, including Bangladesh, Indonesia, and even China. Trump cut a deal with the global apparel giant PVH to manufacture his clothes in 2004, the company told CNN. And ever since, the Donald J. Trump Collection has been produced by factories in Central America and Asia, then shipped to the U.S. for sale in stores and online. CNN purchased several of Trump’s clothing items in 2016, whose tags indicated they were manufactured throughout Asia.” [CNN, 6/22/16]
Trump Home Items Were Produced In Turkey, China, And Slovenia. According to the Washington Post, “Trump Home has a range of items, including chandeliers, mirrors, bedding, table lamps, cabinets, sofas, barstools, cocktail tables and more. Trump expanded the Trump Home brand internationally, including in Turkey. A Trump Organization news release shows it partnered with a global luxury furniture brand, Dorya International, to expand the Trump Home brand to a production facility in Turkey. According to Furniture Today, components of the Trump by Dorya furniture were made in Germany, particularly the brass and stainless pieces. Several Trump Home items are listed as made in China or imported from China — mirrors, ceramic vases, wall decorations, kitchen items and lighting fixtures. The Clinton campaign has pointed to a trademark registration for the Trump Home brand that shows picture frames and other home products were made in India. The Trump Home by Rogaska tabletop collection featured a crystal and china collection with a company based in Slovenia.” [Washington Post, 8/26/16]
Many Trump Hotel Amenities Were Made In China, Taiwan, And South Korea. According to the Washington Post, “Many hotel amenities at Trump’s hotels were manufactured overseas and imported. Trump Hotel pens were made in China or Taiwan, and imported into the United States via South Korea. Shampoo, body wash, moisturizers, shower caps, laundry bags, show bags, pet collars, pet leashes and bath towels at Trump hotels are all listed as made in China.” [Washington Post, 8/26/16]
Trump Vodka Was Produced In The Netherlands And Israel. According to the Washington Post, “Trump Vodka was manufactured at a distillery in the Netherlands, supposedly distilled five times from “European wheat,” but the distribution company stopped carrying it in 2010. An Israeli company continued to carry Trump Vodka, although the version sold in Israel is different from the original Trump Vodka. The Trump Vodka produced and sold in Israel is made from ingredients that make it kosher for Passover, which made it a popular beverage around the holidays. But the Jerusalem Post reported that it turned out that not all ingredients actually were kosher for Passover.” [Washington Post, 8/26/16]
The Associated Press Investigated The Trump Campaign’s “Make America Great Again” Hats And Determined They May Not Be Made In America. According to Fortune, “Donald Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ hats proudly tout they are ‘Made in USA.’ Not necessarily always the case, an Associated Press review found. The iconic, baseball-style hats are indeed stitched together at a small factory in the Los Angeles area. But at least one of the hats in a small sample tested by the AP and an outside expert did not contain the specific type of American-made fabric the hats’ manufacturer insists his factory always uses to make each one.” [Fortune, 7/8/16]
An Analysis Of Five “Make America Great Again” Hats Showed Different Types Of Fabric—Some That Might Be Made Overseas. According to Fortune, “The AP review included a microscopic analysis of five hats bought from Trump’s campaign website, which showed the fabric in one hat was of a different type than that made by the supplier the manufacturer told the AP provides all his hat fabric. In addition to the fabric analysis, two of the manufacturer’s employees, including a top sales agent, said the hats’ fabric, bills and stiffeners were imported from overseas.” [Fortune, 7/8/16]