Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick seemed to share a bit too much information with the public during his appearance on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime,” where he offered a full-throated defense of Donald Trump’s plan to bring manufacturing back to the United States.
But instead of painting a picture of packed factory floors, Lutnick pointed to a future built on robotics and automation — a move that could result in fewer jobs, not more.
“We’re Going To Build Factories” — But With Robots
When asked what kind of manufacturing Trump is planning to bring home, Lutnick said the U.S. isn’t getting back its old garment industry or other labor-heavy sectors.
“What’s going to happen is robotics are going to replace the cheap labor that we’ve seen all across the world,” he said.
He criticized how American companies outsourced work to low-wage countries with poor working conditions, saying:
“We bring back those cheap products here and we feel good about ourselves because we don’t see the pain. But the pain is in our workers.”
Lutnick said the solution is high-tech manufacturing, powered by robotics and staffed by workers trained to fix and maintain those machines.
He called it “a renaissance of American manufacturing,” one that will include 5 million new jobs.
But he admitted these won’t be traditional factory roles. Instead, they’ll resemble “a supercharged BMW mechanic,” focused on fixing robots.
Fewer Workers, Higher Tech
According to Lutnick, even companies like Apple could return production to the U.S., but not with large labor forces.
“Do you think it’s going to be with 100,000 people like they do in China? No, no, no. It’s going to be robotics and it’s going to have 10,000 people,” he said.
This raises questions about the nature of those 5 million jobs. If robotics are doing most of the work, and if fewer people are needed to run these facilities, it could result in a future where goods cost more and fewer Americans benefit from their production.
Trade Deficits and “Non-Tariff Barriers”
Lutnick also echoed Trump’s long-standing complaints about trade imbalances, citing NAFTA as a major reason why U.S. factories moved to Canada and Mexico.
He accused foreign nations of using not just tariffs but a range of tactics to keep American goods out of their markets.
“Their tariffs are the tip of the iceberg. It’s the non-tariff trade barriers. It’s the subsidies. It’s the manipulation. It’s the rebates,” Lutnick said.
He argued that the U.S. had to wait for the AI boom to become competitive again. “We just had to wait for the AI technology boom to be here now to let us compete with all that cheap labor all around the world. It’s coming home.”
Lutnick’s comments pull back the curtain on what America’s manufacturing revival could actually look like: high-tech, highly automated, and with fewer traditional jobs than many voters might expect.
Whether that vision matches the needs of displaced workers and rural communities remains to be seen.