ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Bringing back factory jobs is one of the most popular of White House promises — no matter who happens to be the president.
Donald Trump said he’d do it with tariffs on imports. Barack Obama said companies would start “insourcing.” George W. Bush said tax cuts would do the trick. But factory jobs have struggled to fully return after each recession.
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden is making the case in a New Mexico speech that his policies of financial and tax incentives have revived U.S. manufacturing. His claim is supported by a rise in construction spending on new factories. But factory hiring has begun to slow in recent months, a sign that the promised boom has yet to fully materialize.
That hasn’t stopped the White House from telling voters ahead of the 2024 election that the Democratic president’s agenda has triggered a revival in factory work.
“Hundreds of actions coordinated through his entire government are sparking a manufacturing renaissance across the United States,” White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi told reporters ahead of Biden’s New Mexico speech, asking them to picture in their minds a crowded jobs fair in Belen, New Mexico, for the 250 workers that Arcosa plans to hire at a factory that makes wind towers.