Manufacturers show their products on the South Lawn of the White House, Monday, July 15, 2019, at the Made in America Product Showcase. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
President Donald Trump has long held that his trade war and imposed tariffs would help rebuild the U.S. manufacturing base. One company that promised to buy into his philosophy is now fleeing to Mexico and laying off American workers.
The U.S.’s largest appliance manufacturer, Whirlpool, had been a champion of Trump, welcoming him to an Ohio plant in 2020, where he touted the "Made in America" label that goes on every machine. He pledged to Whirlpool at the time that he'd impose a 50 percent tax on any washing machine imported from a foreign country.
The company promised Trump in 2018 that, in exchange for tariffs, it would increase manufacturing in the U.S. By 2019, consumers were the ones footing the bill for the tax increases, the Wall Street Journal reported.
“And while the tariffs did encourage foreign companies to shift more of their manufacturing to the United States and created about 1,800 new jobs, the researchers conclude that those came at a steep cost: about $817,000 per job," reported the New York Times.
Now those U.S. jobs are headed to Mexico, said the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents the plant's workers.
The Des Moines Register noted that 481 people in Iowa are now without a job, and the overwhelming majority of those come from Whirlpool. The company is the last headquartered in the U.S. that makes large appliances, the report said.
Cedar Valley Corp. LLC is also closing its doors in Iowa. The company was created in 1971 and is laying off 89 workers in the state.
Wells Fargo Bank cut 49 employees in Iowa, too, in February.
The farm and construction manufacturer CNH will finish the closure of its facility in late May. The plant was where the backhoe was invented.
In 2025, there were 108,000 manufacturing job losses in the U.S. and the downward trajectory continues as 2026 begins, the Cato Institute reported.
Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz commented last month that the economy is “not great right now. And the prospects are that it’s going to get worse.”
Just last month, Trump promised a “golden age” of manufacturing.