Tariffs alone will not deliver a new golden age for US manufacturing, according to Johan “Kip” Eideberg of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM). Eideberg argues that President Donald Trump’s administration risks undermining its own industrial ambitions by making it more expensive to build in America, Kallanish reports.
In an opinion article in Fortune, Eideberg says manufacturing remains central to Trump’s economic vision, even as courts and policymakers reshape the legal basis for parts of the administration’s tariff regime. Eidenberg contends that tariffs on steel, aluminium and derivative components are raising costs for domestic producers at the very moment Washington says it wants to boost output and competitiveness.
“President Trump’s goal of ushering in the greatest manufacturing era in American history remains intact,” says Eideberg, who is AEM’s senior vice president of government and industry relations. “But the fatal flaw of the administration’s current tariff strategy is that it is making it more expensive to manufacture in America.”
Eideberg pushes back against prominent protectionist voices such as Oren Cass, Michael Lind and former US trade representative Robert Lighthizer, who have argued that tariffs are necessary to rebuild industrial capacity and secure supply chains. He says those arguments overlook how modern equipment manufacturing actually works.
“Supply chains are vast, intricate and global,” Eideberg points out. “Companies operate on multi-year investment cycles, and suppliers cannot be uprooted overnight.”
That means efforts to force rapid reshoring through tariffs risk creating bottlenecks, shortages and inefficiencies rather than strengthening the sector, he argues. Higher input costs threaten export performance by making US-sourced equipment less competitive internationally.
“Higher input costs make US goods less attractive in foreign markets, forcing manufacturers to either absorb losses or relocate production abroad to remain competitive,” Eideberg says.
He warns that labour shortages present an even deeper structural barrier to any large-scale reshoring push. The manufacturing sector is already struggling to fill hundreds of thousands of open roles, while equipment manufacturing alone has more than 85,000 vacancies, he says. Retirements, tighter labour supply and immigration constraints are all intensifying the problem.
“It will take far more than tariffs to rebuild domestic manufacturing,” Eideberg emphasises. “Meaningful increases in workforce availability through training, retention, workforce participation strategies and immigration reforms are essential.”
Instead of relying on tariffs as a blunt instrument, Eideberg calls for a broader competitiveness agenda centred on innovation, infrastructure, workforce development and supply-chain resilience.
“President Trump is right to champion manufacturing as the backbone of American strength,” he confirms. “But tariffs and forced reshoring are costly detours.”
