Politics Aside

There Has been an Economic Revolution in America

by Leah Vandersluis

If you are willing, put aside your Trump derangement syndrome, frustrations with his occasional bombastic antics, and even your disappointments, and look at some facts about the economic revolution that has occurred since President Trump took office. 

First, during the Clinton, G.W. Bush and Obama’s administrations, six million manufacturing jobs were lost (1999-2011) to China and other countries. Now industry is returning to the U.S. and we are going through an industrial revitalization.

For the first time in 27 years (since 1999), the U.S. has outproduced Japan in steel. The first aluminum smelter plant in 50 years has been built in Oklahoma (Century Aluminum), as well as a John Deere excavator factory reshored from Japan in North Carolina. Graphite processing has returned to the U.S. in New York (Titan Mining). We have the first rare earth magnets at scale in a generation in California and Texas (Vulcan & MP Materials).

We are bringing the AI chip supply chain home to Arizona soon (TSMC), and critical minerals have been reshored to the U.S. ending a 100% import dependency on fifteen strategic minerals. Also, Trump just announced the building of the largest steel manufacturing plant in the world in Ohio.

Let’s look at the statistics regarding unleashed energy: we now produce more crude oil than Saudi Arabia and Russia combined. We have ten new AP 1000 nuclear reactors, 100 GW nuclear reactors (that will be quadrupled by 2050), and ten new LNG terminals (under construction) which will double U.S. export capacity by 2030. The less we need to depend on our antiquated electrical grid, the better.

The recovery numbers are impressive as well: manufacturing construction increased 20.2% in the past year, Machine tool orders are up 22.5%, and there has been a 68.6% increase in power plant construction. The goods trade deficit has dropped 24%, the trade deficit with China has dropped 32%, and the trade deficit with the EU has dropped 40%.

“Somewhere along the way, we lost sight of a foundational principle: economic security is national security. A nation that cannot manufacture, mine, ship or refine its needs gradually cedes its strength—and sovereignty—to others.” Scott Bessent, Treasury Secretary (1)

It is time to be honest about the positive changes under this administration. Hate Trump or love him, things are getting done! Vote conservative so the reindustrialization of the U.S. continues. Vote for those who still love America and don’t want to tear it down.

1. https://www.reuters.com/business/bessent-argues-us-was-asleep-economic-security-trump-policies-waking-it-up-2026-05-29/

I want to acknowledge Promethean Action (www.prometheanaction.com) for the following stats. It is run by two women, Susan Kokinda and Barabar Boyd, who have been following the politics and economics of the U.S. for the past fifty years.