I would buy American, if I could. I would gladly buy American-made shoes, and American-made TV sets, and American-made frying pans. If such things existed.
I would gladly buy ballpoint pens made in America, and electric blankets, and flower pots… if American workers still made those things.
But my country stopped making those products long ago.
Sure, we still produce certain commodities, in large quantities. Bacon, for one. Soybeans, and corn. Kit Kat bars, and Snickers. But a man does not live by Snickers alone.
This isn’t the first time Americans have struggled to find products made in their own country, however. Following the American Revolution, the former colonists — now officially ‘American citizens’ — elected the commander of the Continental Army, George Washington, as their first President. For his inauguration, Washington wanted to appear in something elegant, but not in a military uniform. Unfortunately, in 1789, almost all the stylish clothes sold in the U.S. came from Europe.
For obvious reasons, Washington especially didn’t want to appear in a suit made in England. Considering the war and everything.
He wrote a letter to his Secretary of War, Henry Knox, instructing him to make a suit-buying trip to Hartford, Connecticut, “where I perceive a Manufactury of them is established.” This would have been the Hartford Woolen Manufactury. These were the days when the Secretary of War still ran little errands for the President.
It would be many years before the U.S. had an vibrant clothing industry, and even longer before we had a TJ Maxx. Washington and successive presidents attempted to protect fledgling American industries by placing tariffs on competing foreign products, and the tariffs conveniently provided money to run the government. This was well before income taxes were invented, when our federal government could still run on fumes.
Americans continued to buy things from foreign countries, however, eventually leading up to the ‘Buy American Act’ passed by Congress in 1933, which applies to all purchases of goods by the federal government valued at more than $10,000. The law requires that such goods be produced in the U.S. although the requirement can be waived under certain circumstances. Of course, circumstances are changable.
We note the circumstances in 1933.
America was in the midst of the Great Depression. Workers were out of work and standing in bread lines. Part of Uncle Sam’s attempted solution was the ‘Buy American Act’ — the road to Prosperity, with a ‘Help Wanted’ sign at every factory entrance.
The Act basically demands that the federal government support American industry, although the law includes loopholes wherever necessary. If the government wants to buy an aircraft carrier, for example, they’re not allowed to buy one made in China or Vietnam. (We still make those here, thankfully.)
That’s all well and good, that the federal government sometimes ‘buys American’. But some politicians — including our current President — believe we will be better off paying higher prices for the things that are no longer made in America. Because maybe then, citizens will start demanding that they be made here. Like the aircraft carriers are.
Back in 2017, shortly after starting his first term, President Trump made a speech, standing below a big sign that said, “Buy American — Hire American”.
He declared that his administration would make the U.S. “the car capital of the world” again. We were the car capital once upon a time, but that was a while back, before we tried out Japanese cars.
“For decades, I have raised the alarm over unfair foreign trade practices that have robbed communities of their wealth and robbed our people of their ability to provide for their families,” Trump told us. “They’ve stolen our jobs, they’ve stolen our companies, and our politicians sat back and watched, hopeless. Not anymore.”
Just to be clear, it wasn’t U.S. corporations robbing our people of the ability to provide for their families by ‘offshoring’ their factories to China and Thailand and India and Mexico. It was unfair foreign trade practices. The corporations were innocent. They were merely looking for cheaper labor and more lenient environmental and government regulations.
Tariffs to the rescue!
Writing about President Trump’s 2018 tariffs, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio noted:
Newly enacted tariffs on China would hurt the U.S. economy, experts warned in 2018, right before the economy grew by 2.1 million jobs. It’s not surprising the ‘experts’ got it wrong; they often are these days.
I have the same complaint, about people who act like experts but who make stupid statements.
In the 12 months following the implementation of the Trump tariffs in 2018, the U.S. did indeed create 2.1 million jobs.
By comparison, during the 12 months prior to the implementation of the 2018 tariffs, the U.S. created 2.2 million jobs.
Senator Rubio could have confessed that the tariffs accomplished nothing at all, in terms of jobs creation. It’s not surprising that he got it wrong, however. He often does, these days.
But we got higher prices from the tariffs. Maybe that was the actual goal? Or maybe there’s a different goal that we don’t know about?
As mentioned, President George Washington was a big fan of “Made in America”. He promoted, among other things, ‘homespun’ cloth. Cloth made right here in America… not imported from England.
Where did Washington’s ‘homespun’ come from? Well, he had his slaves weave it, of course.
So I’m thinking, maybe we don’t actually need tariffs.
Maybe we just need to revive slavery?
Incidentally, we didn’t become the car capital of the world like President Trump promised in 2017. Last year, the U.S. manufactured 10.6 million cars. China made three times as many. 31.3 million.
A new report from S&P Global Mobility forecasts that lost production of automobiles due to tariffs, in North America, could reach 20,000 units per day that are not built. This would equate to one third of North American vehicle production being lost due to tariffs.
Which reminds me. I need to change the oil in my car. Probably shouldn’t put that off any longer. Gotta keep your car running as long as possible, these days.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all. You can read more stories on his Substack account.