How Trump Can Rebuild America

Across the American economic dashboard, warning indicators are flashing red. The globalization and financialization of the past several decades have slowed investment, innovation, and growth. Industrial output and productivity have declined, and the United States has lost its leadership position in vital technologies—including in aerospace, energy, and semiconductors. Yes, U.S. corporate profits, stock prices, and consumption have all surged. But crises—including the opioid addiction in the American heartland, the war in Europe, and a worldwide pandemic—have each in their own way exposed the decaying foundations of American security and prosperity.

Both U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s personal brand and his political coalition make him uniquely suited to tackle these challenges. Early in his 2024 campaign, the brash builder not only proposed unleashing domestic energy production but also promised to construct ten new “freedom cities” on federal land to “reopen the frontier” and “reignite American imagination.” In September, he declared his intention to “once again turn America into the manufacturing superpower of the world.” He proposed “extraordinary national development projects,” “state-of-the-art manufacturing hubs,” and “advanced defense capabilities.”

There is reason to think the president-elect could succeed. Trump’s ambition to build marks a rare point of agreement among the diverse factions that compose the Republican Party under his leadership. His multiethnic, working-class base takes particular interest in the prospects for a resurgence in manufacturing to create good blue-collar jobs, revitalize communities, and eliminate reliance on foreign producers. The Silicon Valley technologists salivate at the prospect of slashing red tape and maximizing rewards for productive enterprise. The “America first” economic nationalists are eager to develop natural resources to the fullest and restore the U.S. defense-industrial base.

But creating a new “golden age” in America, as Trump desires, will require a broad program of reindustrialization—and an understanding of government’s role in making it happen. Advisers eager to promote domestic investment will need to win out over those who care only about slashing taxes and spending. Republicans in Congress will need to grasp that a strong military cannot sustain itself without a strong industrial base, which makes industrial policy essential for national security. Trump himself will need to measure success by the creation of good jobs and the rate of productivity growth rather than by the S&P 500. He has the potential to lead a truly transformational administration, but only if he chooses to blaze a trail that diverges from the market fundamentalism of the Republican Party’s legacy establishment.