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US manufacturing will “unequivocally” not benefit from tariffs imposed on foreign imports, the Democratic governor of Colorado told Jon Hilsenrath, aSemafor contributor and former senior writer for The Wall Street Journal, in an interview Monday.
“Unequivocally, tariffs are a complete disaster for the United States,” Gov. Jared Polis said at a Semafor event on the future of US manufacturing.
Both the Democratic presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, and her rival former President Donald Trump have promised to enact tariffs on some foreign imports. While Polis acknowledged China as a “special case” when it came to imposing duties on Chinese goods coming into the US, he argued that Trump’s tariff plan is too broad.
Harris has vowed to keep duties on some Chinese goods, while Trump has promised to raise tariffs on almost every foreign import and raise duties on China.
If Trump wins the White House in November, Polis argued, his proposals will do “damage” to American manufacturing, in large part because of the potential for retaliatory tariffs — a possible consequence that the European Union and other countries have floated: “Nothing is in a vacuum. America just doesn’t say we’re putting a 20% tariff on everything... and the rest of the world says no problem.“
Polis made the case for skilled immigration to boost American manufacturing, but emphasized that border security is needed to ensure “that people we want here, that will make our economy and our country stronger, are able to deploy their talents legally.”
The White House’s domestic policy advisor Neera Tanden touted the administration’s legislative record in supporting US manufacturing through the CHIPS and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act told Semafor’s Gina Chon, but added that the legislation has resulted in a “workforce challenge.”
The key step to resolving the issue, she said, was for employers, schools, and colleges to work together to build up workers’ skills.
“It is absolutely the case that there’s a lot more that needs to be built, but I also think everybody needs to step up to this conversation, it can’t just be employers saying, ‘Hey, it’s frustrating not to be able to find people.’ They need to be part of the solution of engaging with community colleges and high schools and say exactly what skills they need,” she said.
Correction: A previous version of this post misstated Jon Hilsenrath’s previous role and employer. He was a senior writer for The Wall Street Journal.
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Several experts at Semafor’s event Monday agreed that US manufacturing increasingly needs people to meet the growing demand for green tech and other nascent sectors, and that more work needs to be done to build a pipeline of skilled workers.
According to a new Morning Consult and GE Aerospace survey of 1,000 manufacturing workers, newer employees said they needed more training and development, viewing it as key to success and retention.
“Those issues are pretty consistent across the whole industry… I think frankly it’s incumbent on industry to a certain extent to think about how can we come together and build things at scale,” GE Aerospace’s head of HR Christian Meisner told Semafor’s Bennett Richardson.
GE Aerospace announced Monday it will invest $2.3 million into organizations that are working toward developing those skills with a goal of training more than 1,000 workers.