In the latest episode of the Manufacturing Executive Podcast, John Gardner, entrepreneur and author of the new book “Manufacturer Local,” argues that America’s embrace of unilateral free trade policies over the last 50 years has decimated domestic manufacturing – and in turn, the nation’s middle class, capacity for innovation, and even national security.
Gardner’s own manufacturing journey began inauspiciously. After a traumatic brain injury at age 14, he dropped out of high school and left his native Ohio for Los Angeles, hoping to make it as an actor. Disillusioned with Hollywood, Gardner started his own cutting tool business at age 25 based on a design by his father, a mechanical engineer. He bootstrapped the business, learning the trade on the job, and landed his first major order after being featured in Modern Machine Shop magazine.
That experience gave Gardner a first-hand education in the challenges American manufacturers face in a global economy defined by free trade. In his view, the U.S. has unilaterally disarmed itself by lowering tariffs to an average of just 3.4% today, while other nations maintain much higher rates. The result has been massive offshoring of manufacturing over the last half century in pursuit of cheap labor abroad.
“We’ve seen the results of that now,” says Gardner. “We’ve had a 50 year economic case study in low tariffs and we’ve seen our manufacturing go overseas.”
The consequences, he argues, go far beyond economics. With America’s industrial base hollowed out, supply chains have become dangerously reliant on foreign producers, often geopolitical adversaries. “Any armchair military strategist knows that when war starts, the first target is supply chains,” Gardner points out. He cites a recent report by U.S. General John Adams warning that America’s defense industrial base is at risk due to its overreliance on foreign suppliers in China and elsewhere.
To restore America’s manufacturing prowess, Gardner advocates a multi-pronged approach. Step one is to redefine free trade as free trade within the U.S., eliminating domestic barriers like state sales taxes on American-made goods while using tariffs as negotiating leverage with trade partners abroad. At a 15% rate, he calculates, tariffs could generate enough revenue to eliminate income tax for 90% of Americans.
Crucially, Gardner says, the U.S. must bring back volume manufacturing to enable economies of scale. While critics deride this as “protectionism,” he insists there is a moral imperative to re-shore production and excise forced labor from America’s supply chains.
How is it we fought a war to end slavery in this country, but our supply chain is permeated with goods made by forced labor overseas?
Reviving American manufacturing will also require a new generation of skilled workers. Gardner wants to see a return of shop classes to high school curricula and a concerted effort to present manufacturing as an attractive career path for young people.
“We need to get these kids to go on tours of machine shops and manufacturing facilities,” he urges, “and tell them, hey, you can be a production manager, get into engineering, get certified in gear design and other skills outside the college system – and a lot of times your employer will pay for it.”
The alternative, Gardner warns, is not just a continued erosion of living standards for American workers, but a slow-motion evisceration of the nation’s ability to, quite literally, produce the foundations of its own prosperity and security. His book is a clarion call to reverse that trajectory before it’s too late.
“Manufacturer Local: How to Make America the Manufacturing Super Power of the World” is available now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other major booksellers. To learn more about John Gardner’s cutting tool business, visit cncbroachtools.com.
