Rebuilding American Manufacturing: It’s Not Just Plants, It’s People

The latest spotlight on the crisis in American manufacturing may be on steel, but our nation has traded its manufacturing might for financial gains across all sectors – making the same fateful mistake that has befallen great civilizations throughout history. As a founder, CEO, and advocate for American industrial renewal, who’s building the world’s most advanced, efficient factories to counter China’s chokehold on manufacturing, I can tell you that America has just three years – not 10 – to rebuild our industrial base before falling critically behind.  

The vice president and many of the new administration have demonstrated passion for reindustrializing the country and creating a jobs boom that has not been seen in this country for decades. 

This is not just an economic challenge – it’s a moral imperative to secure our nation’s future while being good stewards of our resources, which include the people of this great country. 

The good news is that American innovation and determination can overcome these challenges. In my own company, we’ve developed systems that can transform someone who’s never set foot in a factory into a highly productive team member in weeks, not years. We pay well, offer equity, and provide meaningful work contributing to national security. This isn’t about replacing American workers with automation – it’s about empowering them with technology to manufacture for America faster and better than ever before, creating new and better jobs along the way. 

Likewise, the Trump administration’s commitment to reindustrialization, American manufacturing and our workforce can begin on Day One. To regain our competitiveness, we need the incoming administration to take four broad steps: 

First, we must dramatically reform our permitting process for strategic manufacturing facilities. While China can build a factory in months, American companies often wait years for permits. This regulatory burden is crushing our ability to rapidly scale the production of critical components. 

Second, we need to level the playing field against China’s predatory practices. This means addressing everything from raw material costs to energy rates to shipping subsidies. These artificial costs squeeze what American companies can pay their workforce.  

When Chinese manufacturers can access materials and energy at a fraction of what American companies pay, we’re not competing on merit – we’re competing against a government-subsidized adversary that has been intentionally de-industrializing the U.S. for 30 years. Americans can compete, but not against the Chinese Communist Party making everything from energy to raw materials free. One hundred billion dollars of currently offshored manufacturing business from American companies sourcing in China could return overnight as a result of a more level playing field, creating a jobs boom unlike anything we’ve seen since the ’40s. 

Third, we must ensure that manufacturers who receive government subsidies or revenue from the Department of Defense (DOD) make their supply chain 100% American. Too many of our tax dollars end up being outsourced to China and other competitive nations for 20% cheaper components from bad supply chain incentives. Tariffs will help, but we need a mandate to “make in America if you want to get paid by American taxpayers!” 

And finally, we need to stop missing crucial opportunities and take big, bold bets on American manufacturing to signal to the CCP that we are serious about any offensive moves in Europe or the Pacific Theatre.  

Take shipbuilding. In 2022, China built 800 commercial ships, while America built just one. Last week, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its independent analysis of the U.S. Navy’s shipbuilding plan, warning that the number of battle force ships will decrease from 295 today to 283 ships in 2027, reducing the fleet’s firepower. Further, CBO predicts that over the next 30 years, “…the nation’s shipyards would need to produce substantially more naval tonnage than they have produced over the past 10 years. The rate of production of nuclear-powered submarines, in particular, would need to increase significantly.” Thankfully, President Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, recognized the urgent need for shipbuilding in his confirmation hearing this month, signaling industrialization as a top priority of the next administration. In short, we need many more ships, and we need to build them now.  

But what did President Biden do? He nixed a Navy proposal called the Shipyard Accountability and Workforce Support (SAWS) initiative that would have allowed U.S. shipbuilders to invest in their workforce and suppliers, stem the rising cost of submarine production through technological innovation, and allow 17 more boats to be built. SAWS achieves this by using taxpayer dollars more effectively without Congress having to appropriate another nickel. 

Instead, Biden asked Congress for nearly $6 billion dollars as a Band-Aid to fix the problem.  

SAWS represents an immediate, comprehensive approach to revitalizing American shipbuilding. On Day One, it will provide wage increases to 45,000 shipyard workers across the nation while smartly using authorities in the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act to fund both these wages and critical, cutting-edge shipyard technologies, helping our major primes and new market entrants build faster, smarter, and more efficiently. Through streamlined processes that will speed up ship and submarine production, along with careful resource management, SAWS is projected to save taxpayers over $20 billion while strengthening our industrial base and has a real chance to both fix our current issues and make a technology-driven manufacturing leap over the CCP ahead of the looming 2027 Pacific timeline. 

In his first week, President Trump can pick up the ball the outgoing administration has dropped and send a signal to the CCP that he will not wait to rebuild American manufacturing strength. President Trump’s nominee for the White House Office of Management and Budget, Russ Vought, gets this. In 2020, he backed expanding the Navy. And today, the stakes couldn’t be higher. We have the innovation, the workforce, and the determination to succeed. What we need now is leadership that understands the urgency of our challenge and is willing to take bold action. Working together – government, industry, technology, and the American people – we can restore our God-given right to be the world’s industrial superpower – and ensure that the 21st century remains an American century. 

The time for action, the time to start reindustrializing America, is now. 

This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.