The Trump administration is weighing the next phase of its tariff agenda: a new round of Section 301 tariffs aimed at dozens of countries around the globe. These tariffs are timely, coming shortly after the Supreme Court terminated the previous tariff regime.
However, there is reason to be concerned that these wide-ranging tariffs may extend an inadvertently large net: companies already in the midst of shifting their supply lines back to the United States. Doing so will only hurt the goal of restoring the country’s capacity to make what it needs and of building up the workforce that does the making.
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As such, the power tools and jobsite equipment that electricians, plumbers, welders, machinists, and construction workers rely on every day should be excluded from the new tariffs, provided their manufacturers are already reshoring to USMCA countries. This would be similar to how President Donald Trump has already excluded the equipment that farmers and construction crews depend on.
That matters for reasons beyond the factory floor. A country that cannot make its own steel, its own machinery, and its own critical equipment is a country that can be squeezed by its adversaries. Reindustrialization is a national security project as much as an economic one. But it is also something personal: the dignity and stability of skilled trade work, the kind of steady paycheck that once let a single income support a family and a town. And these workers extend beyond factories — they are the carpenters, roofers, HVAC repair technicians, plumbers, and others who help to build and repair nearly everything we use in our daily lives.
Trump has already demonstrated a recognition of the need to slow-roll some tariffs. His June 1 proclamation adjusting tariffs on steel, aluminum, and copper extended relief to agricultural equipment, residential HVAC systems, and industrial machinery, recognizing that those goods are critical to keeping American production running. That is tariffs working at their best: building up the industries and workers doing the rebuilding, rather than taxing them for it.
That instinct is part of a bigger pattern, not a one-off. And it’s working. The White House’s own May 27 report made the case directly: The president’s policies are fueling historic demand for skilled American workers. Last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act backed that up with real money, opening 529 college savings accounts to trade certifications and expanding Pell Grants for skilled-trades training. The new Workforce Pell Grant lets students use federal aid for the short-term programs that prepare them for high-skill, high-wage jobs instead of a four-year degree they may not need.
The workers who stand to benefit are a growing share of the American workforce, not a shrinking one. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects electrician employment to grow 9% over the next decade, with roughly 81,000 openings a year, while demand for plumbers, pipe fitters, and steamfitters is projected to grow as well. A generation of new tradespeople is entering the workforce at the exact moment reindustrialization is asking more of them. Exempting tools produced by companies that are already in the process of reshoring would give Trump a quick win to help skilled workers compete, earn a paycheck, and afford the equipment they need.
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Workers are the backbone of Making America Build Again. Every tradesperson who picks up a tool made by a company that already left foreign shores is proof reindustrialization and reshoring are working. And every manufacturer weighing whether to make that same bet is watching.
As the tariffs move forward, we should ensure they back American workers, not burden them.
Anthony Constantini is a policy analyst at the Bull Moose Institute.
