Slapping tariffs on our allies without a comprehensive plan to rebuild U.S. manufacturing isn’t just reckless—it’s economic self-sabotage. Prices spike, supply chains strain and diplomatic relationships fray. And while tariffs are sold as a patriotic fix, the truth is more sobering: we’re still at least a decade away from achieving a self-sustaining industrial base in America.
However, even if we rebuild our manufacturing infrastructure—and we should—there are still essential products we can’t produce here at scale or cost: mobile electronics, medical-grade components, specialized microchips, solar panels, and countless everyday items Americans rely on. In reality, U.S.-made goods will almost always cost more than their imported counterparts. Without a deliberate, phased plan that includes workforce training, factory revitalization, and immigration reform, these tariffs don’t protect American jobs—they punish American consumers.
This isn’t sound policy. It’s economic suicide—and working people are paying the consequences.
America doesn’t need more walls.
It needs more welders.
It doesn’t need more tariffs.
It needs more tools, tech, and training.
It doesn’t need more bullshit.
It needs more builders.
Immigration Reform: Welcoming Workers, Strengthening the Economy
What we’re seeing at the southern border isn’t a threat—it’s a missed opportunity. While political leaders posture and point fingers, millions of capable, willing individuals are being turned away, detained, or deported to countries where they may never be heard from again. Many of these migrants are fleeing political instability and violence, and the U.S. is spending millions to send them back—including $6 million paid to El Salvador to imprison deportees, often without due process.
These individuals are not criminals. They are future workers, neighbors, and taxpayers. Undocumented immigrants contribute billions to our economy. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), undocumented immigrants paid $96.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in 2022. Of this, $37.3 billion was contributed to state and local governments. Notably, more than a third of these tax payments supported programs like Social Security and Medicare—benefits these workers are ineligible to receive.
Rather than criminalize their existence, we should channel their contributions legally. Let’s build a policy that turns border management into economic momentum.
This is how it could work:
- Establish a five-year work visa program for migrants in good standing—individuals who pass a background check and meet eligibility criteria—allowing them to legally live, work, and contribute to the U.S. economy.
- After five years, visa holders may apply for an extension, earning Social Security credits and Medicare eligibilitylike any other legal worker.
- After ten years of documented employment and community participation, they can apply for permanent residency, and eventually, citizenship.
This isn’t just about doing the right thing. It’s about doing the smart thing.
Migrants would work side-by-side with U.S. citizens to revive towns and industries long left behind. This is how we rebuild the American workforce: not by choosing one population over another, but by aligning the strengths of both.
This isn’t charity. It’s infrastructure. It’s foresight. It’s strategy.
U.S. Workforce Retraining: From Shutdown to Startup
Across America, entire industries that once defined our workforce are shrinking or shutting down. Steelworkers, coal miners, and assembly-line technicians in once-thriving towns are watching jobs disappear with no roadmap for what comes next. The promise to “bring back” jobs from the past isn’t a solution—it’s a stall tactic. These workers deserve more than nostalgia.
They deserve a future.
That future is green, digital, handcrafted, and high-tech—and American workers are built for it.
With strategic public investment and private sector partnerships, U.S. corporations can lead a nationwide effort to retrain legacy workers for the new economy. Let’s retool our workforce for industries that are already shaping the next generation:
- Green energy manufacturing: wind turbines, solar panels, and battery storage facilities
- Vertical and upright farming: sustainable food production using smart tech and hydroponics
- Electric and hybrid vehicle production: expanding the EV supply chain and retrofitting existing auto plants
- Artisanal, luxury, and craftsman-made goods—from high-end furniture to custom guitars and heirloom-quality products
- Advanced manufacturing and robotics: precision assembly, 3D printing, and AI-assisted systems
- Semiconductor fabrication and cleantech infrastructure: building critical tech domestically
And let’s go a step further:
- Offer incentives to emerging online retail companies to compete with e-commerce giants like Amazon and China’s Temu. America needs more domestic players using the same just-in-time, warehousing, and delivery models—with U.S.-based supply chains that create jobs here at home.
These aren’t just jobs—they’re careers with longevity, purpose, and room to grow. With apprenticeships, tuition assistance, and fast-track certification programs, we can turn displaced workers into pioneers of a new industrial revolution.
Let’s stop selling the myth that these workers are obsolete. They’re not. They’re essential—if we choose to invest in them.
Global Trade, Not Isolation, Is Smart Business
Punitive tariffs may make for strongman politics, but they’re bad economics. America thrives when it competes globally—not when it closes in on itself. We don’t need a repeat of the past—we need sound, forward-thinking policies that build a brighter global future.
We’ve tried isolation before and paid the price. In the 1800s, protectionist tariffs like the Tariff of Abominations triggered retaliatory trade wars and deepened regional divisions. A century later, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 worsened the Great Depression by shrinking international trade when global cooperation was most needed.
History has shown us that trade wars don’t build prosperity—they break it.
Here’s why we should support fair, open trade with partners like Canada, Mexico, and beyond:
- Lower tariffs mean lower prices for consumers and small businesses
- Free trade with neighbors strengthens diplomatic ties and regional security
- Integrated supply chains across North America increase efficiency and reduce bottlenecks
- Global partnerships encourage innovation and help American companies expand into new markets
- Tariff-free trade boosts job creation in export-heavy industries like agriculture, technology, and clean energy
We don’t win by isolating ourselves. We win by leading with strategy, cooperation, and a shared investment in the future.
A Plan Rooted in Progress, Not Posturing
We don’t need more fear. We need foresight. We don’t need slogans. We need a strategy.
We need a clear plan that uses common sense: welcome immigrants through legal pathways that strengthen our economy, retrain American workers for high-demand industries, rebuild manufacturing hubs, and open markets through smart, cooperative trade.
If we get this right, we could see a future of innovation, revitalization, and shared prosperity. But if we continue down the path of tariffs without a plan, walls without vision, and nationalism without a strategy, we’re not saving the future—we’re sabotaging it.
Contact your U.S. Representatives and Senators and demand real action. Tell them to protect our economy from short-sighted isolationism and invest in people, towns, and industries—not political theater.
Find your members of Congress at house.gov and senate.gov.