Reclaiming American manufacturing jobs has been the focal point of Donald Trump’s economic policies ever since he became president. While the White House simultaneously places tariffs and seeks to reshore these jobs, some of Trump’s closest allies in the tech sector are investing heavily in robotics startups that seek to make human employment increasingly obsolete.
This particular circumstance is causing strain at the heart of Trump’s promise of blue-collar revitalization. “Trump is talking about bringing back the jobs, and he’s not understanding the tension between that goal and automation, which the tech bros have enthusiasm for,” explained Harry Holzer, a University of Georgetown professor and former labor department economist. “There’s a fundamental conflict between those goals.”
Tech Titans Bet on a Robotic Future
Musk has called humanoid robots the future of manufacturing, which is aligned with his position as Tesla’s CEO and a close adviser to President Trump. “You can produce any product,” he stated during this year’s World Governments Summit in Dubai, touting their flexibility. Bezos’ acquisition of Figure, a startup that develops humanoid robots for use in warehouses and factories, has him branded as a leader in investing in robotics. In addition, Nvidia and OpenAI, under CEOs Jensen Huang and Sam Altman, respectively, also previously backed Figure, although OpenAI has since cut ties.
Vicarious, a robotics firm that claims to reduce “person-hour needs” and labor costs, boasts backing from Bezos, Musk, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg totaling $250 million. The company was purchased by Intrinsic, an Alphabet-backed company, further deepening their investment in advanced automation in 2022.
Such investments depict a new vision for factories; instead of being filled with human workers, they will be occupied by machines.
Clashing Visions in the Trump Administration
Even with the tech industry’s push toward automation, Trump is stubborn in his insistence that manufacturing should be repopulated with human workers. As Howard Lutnick, the Commerce Secretary, stated, “We’re going to have huge jobs in manufacturing.” “You’ve heard the president talk about trillions and trillions of factories being built in America.”
It is obvious from the administration’s policies—tax cuts, energy expansion, deregulation, and even tariffs—that these were meant to incentivize companies to build domestically. Desai Kush, White House spokesperson, framed the effort through national security as saying, “The importance of President Trump’s push to reinvigorate American industry goes beyond creating good-paying jobs… America cannot rely on foreign imports.”
Kush Desai’s remarks point toward the difficulty with actively reshoring jobs, as American labor costs greatly undermine the effort. According to economist Yong Suk Lee from the University of Notre Dame, “If you want to reshore, are you going to pay the same wages as Vietnam? Probably not. In that case, they’ll probably automate.”
Automation’s Quiet, Relentless March
Shifts like these are not new. As Ball State University researchers suggested in 2015, automation has been the primary driver increasing factory output even amidst the stagnation of employment. The percentage of workers employed in manufacturing has declined from 25% in 1970 to a mere 8% today.
“We have seen the impacts of automation for quite a while,” stated labor specialist Philipp Kircher from Cornell University. Automation, perceived as “a significant opportunity,” is being used or manufactured by companies like Agility Robotics to implement android robots into American factories as a response to current reshoring trends.
Even Amazon defends its use of automation. ” Our aim is the protection of people and improvement of productivity,” stated Tye Brady, chief technologist at Amazon Robotics, in a corporate blog. “Fostering and retaining talent should be a result of investment in technology.”
Jobs and Automation: Can They Exist Hand in Hand?
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang suggested AI-integrated systems in factories might create new job opportunities within the construction, steel, plumbing, and electrical trades. “New jobs will be created, some jobs will be lost, and every job will be changed, “added Huang. “It’s the company and the person who uses AI that are going to take your job.”
Agility Robots, a company focused on building automation, strives to close what they see as an unattended field in automation to address such hires. In January, Michigan State University published a study showing some anatomical gaps in USA workplaces, including a lack of workers saying, “One in five US factories unable to reach full capacity cited a lack of available workers.”
Trump’s Change Agenda: Economic Policy in an Era of Machines
The contradiction between Trump’s allies regarding the manufacturing agenda and the technology of his supporters underscores deeper concerns about how to help an industry ravaged by global forces and automation. As businesses strive to make operations leaner, the competition to drive automation and ration jobs may deepen.
How this situation will unfold for American workers—whether they will be included in the transformations or removed from the picture altogether—remains one of the most important considerations for Trump while executing his second-term economic strategy.
