President Donald Trump's promise to bring back U.S. manufacturing jobs has backfired as tariff-exposed industries are losing jobs, CNN reports.
The "American manufacturing renaissance" Trump pledged has had the opposite result following the president's trade war, impacting manufacturing, construction, and transportation industries, according to new analysis by Apollo Global chief economist Torsten Slok.
Slock reviewed a three-month moving average of employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and found that these tariff-impacted sectors had job loss in recent years; however, this is the first time that payroll growth has been negative over a period of the last several months.
Hiring has weakened, and these tariff-exposed industries have had major layoffs. Crashing lumber prices and companies like John Deere have seen 'troubling' signs.
A new revision to jobs data released Tuesday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed a staggering 911,000 fewer jobs were added in the year leading up to March of this year.
“The tariff impact on hiring is now undeniable. The manufacturing renaissance, the hiring boom, is just not happening,” Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, told CNN.
Tariff price increases for steel, copper, and aluminum, along with other materials, have hiked prices for manufacturers that were supposed to see a benefit from the changing trade agenda.
Economists say that the Trump administration's chaotic strategy has caused uncertainty and "paralyzed" manufacturers, which has prompted companies to pull back on hiring.
“It turns out the community of economists were correct that launching a trade war would result in slower growth and few jobs. That’s what is happening,” Brusuelas said.
The Trump administration denied on Tuesday that jobs and hiring are down in the United States. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt argued in a news conference that the economy Trump was handed as he entered office was "a mess" and blamed President Joe Biden's administration.
Americans are losing faith in finding new jobs. New data from the New York Federal Reserve shows consumers indicate there is only a 45% chance of finding a new job if they don't have one currently, and that was consumers who are “broad-based across age, education and income groups."
It was "most pronounced for those with at most a high school education,” the data showed. That is down from 51% in July — the lowest reading since the survey launched in 2013.