Selling The American Dream

Now With A 50% Tariff

-by Jerrad Christian

Trump sold tariffs as the spark that would bring the fire of American manufacturing roaring back to life. He said that imposing taxes at the border would protect jobs, rebuild towns, and make “Made in America” a reality again. But the truth rattling across factory floors and dinner tables is a different story— one of shuttered gigs, rising costs, and stalled recovery.

In Michigan, Governor Gretchen Whitmer warned Trump behind closed doors that the auto industry was bleeding. Since his return to power, Michigan has lost 7,500 manufacturing jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That message alone should’ve been enough to make anyone pause.

She also flagged the deeper damage: a $23.2 billion drop in cross-border investment tied to trade with Canada and Mexico, investments that were once flowing into factories, expansions, and local economies.

Trump responded by adding more tariffs on imported steel and aluminum— a full 50% tax at the border. That’s a direct tax that slams every supply chain that leans on those metals.

Cars now cost $2,000-$4,000 more to build. Packaging, appliances, construction, oil, and gas all go up in price, too. It spreads from factory floors to kitchen counters and no one benefits, even though you'd think he solved world hunger the way he's acting.

Small manufacturers cannot swallow these extra costs. The Federal Reserve’s Beige Book and regional data show that small businesses are slowing hiring, stockpiling goods, or drawing on credits just to survive the unpredictability. Some leaders say uncertainty hurts more than the tariffs themselves, because you can’t plan when the rules change weekly.

Here’s the hard data: U.S. manufacturing capacity utilization in June 2025 sat at 76.9%, about 1.3 percentage points below the long-run average of 78.2%, according to the Federal Reserve. That’s a system beginning to fail.

The headlines may point to stock market rallies or grand announcements about re-shored factories but the muscle of manufacturing isn’t flexing. The Purchasing Managers’ Index for the sector has slipped under 50, signaling economic contraction, not comeback. Figures this high in tariffs resemble Depression-era policy, that we get to revisit after some folks seem to have forgotten history.

And yes, this feels like Smoot-Hawley, but this time with digital veneer and global stakes. Tariffs aren't rebuilding towns yet, and they won't. They're not saving jobs— they're making manufacturing cars overseas more profitable than buying the metals to make them here. The sad part is, none of it is even complicated, we just have a president playing with our economy like a kid with a loaded gun.

If you feel like “Made in America” is slipping through your hands, you're seeing what these policies do. And I am not sure these dime store morons will be happy until every manufacturing plant in America is gone.