Johnson & Johnson announced that it plans to invest more than $55 billion in the United States over the next four years. This investment focuses on manufacturing, research and development, and technology, including the construction of four new manufacturing facilities. The initiative kicked off with the groundbreaking of a high-tech biologics manufacturing facility in Wilson, North Carolina, which is expected to create thousands of jobs during construction and hundreds of permanent positions thereafter. The company highlighted that this represents a 25% increase over its investments in the previous four years, attributing part of the decision to the economic environment shaped by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The total economic impact in the U.S. is estimated to exceed $100 billion annually. This move aligns with a broader trend of companies boosting domestic investment, often linked to policies encouraging American manufacturing.
Whether Donald Trump can transform the United States into a manufacturing hub depends not only his America First policies and their execution but also broader economic realities and global geopolitics to retain manufacturing share by respective countries.
Trump has emphasized revitalizing U.S. manufacturing through policies like tariffs, tax incentives, and deregulation. Their has bee recent pledges from American giants to invest inside United States. Companies like Apple ($500 billion), TSMC ($100 billion), and Eli Lilly ($27 billion) has committed significant investments. These moves suggest a strategy to lure both domestic and foreign firms to produce in the U.S., leveraging incentives and penalties. His tariff approach aims to make foreign goods costlier, encouraging companies to relocate production. In his first term, tariffs on steel and aluminum (25% and 10%, respectively) aimed to protect U.S. industries, and he’s now proposing broader tariffs—10-20% on all imports, with higher rates (up to 60%) on Chinese goods. The idea is to shift manufacturing from places like China, South Korea, and Germany to states like Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia.
Tax policy is another lever. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which Trump champions, lowered the corporate tax rate to 21% and allowed immediate expensing of capital investments—moves credited with boosting manufacturing optimism and adding 510,000 jobs between 2016 and February 2020. Now, he’s pushing to make these cuts permanent and drop the rate to 15% for U.S.-based producers, alongside deregulation to cut compliance costs (estimated at $350 billion annually for manufacturers). The National Association of Manufacturers praised these efforts in his first term, noting over 90% of their regulatory reform recommendations were addressed by 2020.
But there are hurdles. Tariffs could raise costs for U.S. manufacturers reliant on imported components—e.g., automakers facing higher steel prices—potentially offsetting gains. In his first term, while manufacturing jobs grew pre-pandemic, nearly 1,800 factories closed between 2016 and 2018, and the trade deficit with China hit record highs. Automation also limits job creation; modern factories need fewer workers than decades ago, with machines dominating production lines. Economists note that global trends—cheaper labor abroad, established supply chains in Asia—won’t reverse overnight. Mexico, not the U.S., has recently benefited from China tariffs, as firms shift there to avoid duties while staying close to American markets.
From 2017 to 2019, manufacturing jobs rose by about 500,000, but COVID-19 erased much of that, with 740,000 lost in 2020. Under Biden, 775,000 jobs returned by mid-2024, spurred by laws like the Inflation Reduction Act, which Trump opposes. His mass deportation plans could also shrink the labor pool—manufacturing already faces a worker shortage, with the economy near full employment.
Can Trump do it? Possibly, but not easily. Success hinges on execution—balancing tariffs to protect without choking supply chains, ensuring tax breaks spark real investment, and countering automation’s dampening effect on jobs. The $1.7 trillion in pledged investments since January 2025 is a strong start, but turning the U.S. into a manufacturing hub like it was mid-20th century requires sustained policy wins against entrenched global forces.
Galactik Views