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3471In a recent CNBC interview, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick laid out a vision for the American workforce that raised eyebrows, and not in a good way.
Speaking live from an Arizona semiconductor factory, Lutnick touted what he called “the great jobs of the future,” but his description sounded like a throwback to the 19th century.
“This is the new model, where you work in these kind of plants for the rest of your life, and your kids work here, and your grandkids work here,” Lutnick said.
The quote immediately sparked backlash online, with many accusing the Trump administration of promoting generational labor with no upward mobility.
Tariffs and Taiwanese Investment
Lutnick attempted to frame this as a patriotic resurgence of American industry.
He credited Trump-era tariffs with bringing in a record $100 billion investment from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), which he said would result in six new plants and create 40,000 construction jobs and 20,000 permanent jobs.
“Biden White House Chips Act gave this company, which is a trillion-dollar company, $6 billion to build $60 billion worth of factories,” Lutnick said.
“We convinced the company, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation, TSMC, to build another $100 billion. It’s tariffs that brought them in.”
National Security at the Core
He repeatedly stressed that national security is at the heart of the administration’s trade and manufacturing strategy.
“If we don’t produce semiconductors, we can’t make drones to protect ourselves. We can’t make fighter jets…We can’t do anything,” Lutnick said.
“It’s time for America to take care of itself.”
Robots, Retraining, and Reality Checks
He also brushed off concerns about automation and robots replacing workers.
“This is the future of American manufacturing. It is not as the joke online, you know, make Americans work on the sewing machine. What you’re going to see is a highly automated plant that employs 3000 people per plant,” he said.
“This is tradecraft. This is high school educated, great jobs that start in 80s and 90s and go up to one hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand dollars.”
Still, his comments about lifelong factory work across generations drew sharp criticism. The New Republic pointed out that Lutnick’s model resembles serfdom more than progress.
He’s “suggesting that millions of people ought to commit to a generational lack of upward mobility under the guise of creating a new class of American labor,” the outlet wrote.
Serfdom or Stability?
The idea of locking generations of Americans into the same line of work, even in high-tech factories, raises alarms about stagnation and inequality.
One social media user joked, “Can we regress further? I want to be a feudal serf!” Others questioned why people glorify influencers over essential workers.
Defenders of the plan said it’s better than the current alternative: unstable, low-paying service jobs with no benefits.
“People now would prefer that to the service job they barely get paid anything to do,” one user posted. “We need wealth creation, and domestic manufacturing does that.”
“A family used to be able to live a comfortable middle-class lifestyle on the income of a single factory-working parent. It would be a huge win if the U.S. could get back to that,” one user wrote.
Others weren’t convinced: “So we oppose slave labor in China and then transfer that model to our own country, right?”
Another user summed up the criticism: “A billionaire’s utopia is you chained to a factory line while he compounds generational wealth. Your birthright? Labor. His? Ownership.”
Tariffs, Trade Deals, and GDP Dreams
Lutnick dismissed the idea that tariffs would result in price hikes, calling such claims “nonsense.”
He argued that smart trade deals would remove tariffs from goods the U.S. doesn’t produce, like mangoes and cocoa, while opening foreign markets for American exports like beef, soybeans, and cars.
“We have $1.2 trillion trade deficit. If we cut that 25%, that’s 1% of GDP growth in America, $300 billion,” Lutnick said.
“No one is adding up the numbers that Donald Trump is going to produce. The greatest growth of the domestic economy ever seen.”
Whether you see it as economic realism or dressed-up serfdom, one thing is clear: Lutnick’s interview has ignited a national debate about the future of work in America, and who really benefits from it.
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