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The "manufacturing rebirth" that lost 72,000 factory jobs

Yes, really. Here are the receipts.

What actually happened

After April 2025 tariffs billed as a "manufacturing rebirth," factory jobs fell for 8 straight months, dropping about 72,000 nationwide and 2,500 in Michigan. Critics say the policy raised costs, slowed production, and failed to deliver job growth.

The receipts

Not your grandfather's factory: Why tariffs won't help Midwest manufacturing
Brookings

Both of your card's numbers live here: 72,000 factory jobs lost between April's tariffs and December, 2,500 of them in Michigan alone. Why the analysis concludes tariffs can't fix what actually changed...

'Tariffs Haven't Helped': 72,000 Manufacturing Jobs—and Counting—Obliterated Since Trump's Liberation Day
Common Dreams

In every single month after "Liberation Day," federal data shows manufacturers cut jobs — eight straight and counting. The Wall Street Journal's verdict on the promised rebirth...

Manufacturing Employment Data Confirm the Concentrated Benefits—and Dispersed Costs—of Trump's Tariffs
Cato Institute

The BLS numbers show a third consecutive year of net manufacturing job losses, with the administration's own tariff policy increasingly implicated. What factory managers told the December ISM survey...

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