During its heyday in the mid-20th century, the steel mill in Weirton, W.Va., employed 13,000 people and offered workers a relatively stable blue-collar life. Weirton Steel in 2003 Filed for bankruptcy. Downtown shops boarded up their windows, and young people moved away from the decadent Appalachian town.
Prospects for Weirton were changing in May 2023 when I visited there as energy secretary. Farm Energy, which makes large iron-air batteries to store energy for the electric grid, just broke ground on a 550,000-square-foot factory. Today, the production line is humming, and when the plant reaches full capacity, it will employ more than 750 people, mainly locals who were laid off from the mill.
Farm Energy’s plant is one of nearly 1,000 new or expanded clean energy plants announced across the U.S. in the past four years, creating nearly 800,000 new manufacturing jobs — proof that the U.S. has started manufacturing recovery.
But you can kiss that goodbye if President Trump and the new Congress roll back the laws that made it possible. Our economic rivals are lying in wait to lure overseas companies and turn our innovation into their own prosperity.
America used to be very good at making things. In the mid-20th century we made half the world’s steel and half the world’s cars. By the 1970s, more Americans than ever held manufacturing jobs.
Then, other countries started poaching our technology. They lured foreign companies with free capital and cheap labor. Back in America, policymakers stuck to their laissez-faire guns. If employers wanted to move production offshore, who were we to question the free market? But our economic rivals were not playing by the same rules. The free market did not take our jobs. China and Mexico did this by luring companies with financial incentives.
When I became governor of Michigan in 2003, many workers who had started their careers building the world’s best cars ended their careers without pensions—sometimes overseas before handing in their ID badges. They also train substitutes. About 60,000 US factories closed between 2001 and 2011.
There should be no confusion about why new factories are opening again: America is finally playing hardball with its economic rivals. Former President Joe Biden authored three laws — the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, the Chips and Science Act and the Deflation Act — that created tax credits, grants and loans to pay for the cost of building American products on American soil with American workers. can be made effective. This is especially true of clean energy technologies like solar panels and batteries.
Farm Energy received a grant from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act to help build its factory. It will also claim a tax credit through the Depreciation Act for making the batteries. Over the next decade, our clean energy laws could increase by approx. $2 trillion the US economy.
Yet Mr. Trump is willing to withdraw incentives that are reviving American manufacturing. He has promised to end the electric vehicle tax credit that has helped save auto factories, including in my home state. On his first day in office, he signed an executive order declaring an urgent need for more energy, which he attributes almost exclusively to oil and gas. No mention of solar power, which is creating thousands of new manufacturing jobs and was our largest new source of energy capacity last year.
This is a dangerous economic strategy. Other governments are waiting with bated breath to repay our grants, loans and tax credits so they can use the same tools to bring the next generation of factories to their shores.
Consider electric vehicles: It’s no secret that China wants to dominate the global market. Today, it accounts for more than half of the world’s electric vehicle production. But more than 450 electric vehicle battery companies have announced they are relocating to the U.S. or expanding factories here since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act — many of them leaving China to do so. are It would be a national embarrassment to withdraw this entire industry.
And we stand to lose more than jobs or pride. U.S. electricity demand will grow 15 percent over the next decade due to new data centers, factories, and transportation. If the Trump administration forces wind, solar and other clean energy jobs to end, we will lose access to the technologies that help make up our energy mix. Monthly utility bills will increase, and brownouts and blackouts will become regular experiences.
There is also management. Fraud Even if he believes that “drill, baby, drill” will create a job boom. The US is already the world’s largest oil producer and gas exporter. A combination of soft oil prices and low market demand has made many industry leaders reluctant to invest heavily in boosting production.
The politics of presidential transition is delicate. The incoming administration wants to turn the page, but some policies, and some people, must be exempt from this conflict. I think of the auto workers in Michigan and the steel workers in West Virginia – the skilled women and men left asking if America is still using its talent. It took us a long time to answer, but because of these new manufacturing laws, we can finally say. yes.
Securing the next generation of American manufacturing jobs will require strong government and private sector partnerships and continued investment in domestic clean energy production. When we turned off the lights in our offices on Monday, we left behind a plan for success for the next occupants – already in motion. It will be up to them to decide if they want to make the most of it.
