Investment in manufacturing construction has also fallen 16% during that period, despite public investment pledges of some $900 billion from companies over the past year and a half. Donald Trump has promised to use tariffs, deregulation, and tax cuts to spur a “golden age” of manufacturing in the United States. But despite a modest increase in output, job losses continue. Experts say automation and foreign competition are to blame. US manufacturing peaked in the 1970s and has largely been hedging downwards for decades.
