Clint Brewer, Founder and Managing Partner of public affairs firm Imperium Public Strategies, detailed how the push to rebuild American manufacturing is becoming a defining element of the economic agenda under President Donald Trump.
On Tuesday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Brewer pointed to remarks Trump made in his recent State of the Union address to Congress highlighting the scale of investment the administration says it has attracted to the U.S.
“In four long years, the last administration got less than $1 trillion in new investment in the United States. And when I say less, substantially less,” Trump said during his address. “In 12 months, I secured commitments for more than $18 trillion pouring in from all over the globe. Think of it – much less than $1 trillion for four years versus much more than $18 trillion for one year. What a difference a president makes.”
Trump added that the surge in investment reflects renewed global interest in the U.S. economy, saying, “A short time ago we were a dead country. Now we are the hottest country anywhere in the world.”
Brewer said the president’s remarks underscore the importance of foreign companies investing directly in American industry.
“Manufacturing has been tied to the positive growth arc of this country since we founded it,” Brewer said. “Companies from other countries are doubling down on investing in the U.S. workforce and manufacturing.”
That trend, Brewer said, is not only reflected in large investment figures but also in the impact on local communities.
“Manufacturing is crucially important to small towns and communities all over this country,” he said. “It’s also important that we control our own destiny with manufacturing.”
Brewer went on to note that recent years have highlighted the risks of relying on overseas production, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic when shortages exposed supply-chain weaknesses.
“We realized suddenly we didn’t make our own antibiotics. We didn’t make our own materials for hospitals. They were all being made overseas,” Brewer said.
He argued that rebuilding domestic manufacturing capacity strengthens both the economy and national security.
“I think that embracing this spirit of American ingenuity, of American innovation, and American manufacturing is a theme that is lost on most major media because maybe it doesn’t get website clicks, but it is incredibly important not just to the economy, but to our national security,” Brewer stressed.
“It’s very difficult to have confidence in a military whose vehicles are stocked with Chinese microchips,” he noted.
He pointed to historical examples of the U.S. industrial base shifting rapidly during wartime, such as when automakers retooled factories to support the war effort during World War II.
“It’s one of the reasons that Ford Motor Company and International Harvester could pivot their assembly lines from cars and tractors and turn around and make tanks,” Brewer said.
He added that modern technologies could play a similar role in strengthening American industry and defense manufacturing in the future, pointing specifically to artificial intelligence.
“[Artificial intelligence] is an industry we own, and it is one that we need to nurture and one that we need to continue to grow and continue to own,” he said.
“There’s a much bigger picture here,” Brewer added. “For a change, our foreign policy and our economic policy fit together, and they’re driving us toward greater investment in industry and manufacturing in this country, which is exactly what needs to happen.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
