America First: Let’s Stop Foreign Countries Waging Economic War on Millions of American Manufacturing Jobs

Relying on overseas foreign supply chains undermines our economic strength and national security, while threatening millions of U.S. jobs.

President Donald Trump arrives to deliver remarks at the Mack Trucks Lehigh Valley Operations facility in Macungie, Pa., on June 23, 2026. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Commentary

As President Donald Trump made clear last week when he met with workers at Mack Trucks’ factory in Pennsylvania to talk about his fight against “globalist politicians and other countries that seek to rip us off,” one reality is clear: the United States cannot afford to rely on overseas foreign supply chains. Doing so will undermine both our economic strength and national security in times of crisis, while threatening millions of U.S. manufacturing jobs.

When foreign producers violate U.S. trade laws, they distort competition and steal American jobs. This isn’t business. It’s cheating. The question isn’t whether American manufacturing can compete, it’s whether we’re willing to enforce international trade law and ensure anyone can work hard and live the American Dream.

Throughout Trump’s campaigns and time in office, I have seen him travel across the country to address workers whose jobs have been decimated by foreign countries cheating the system. One by one, manufacturing industries like steel, furniture and textiles have been offshored. Today, sectors like America’s quartz countertop manufacturing industry, with tens of thousands of workers in critical swing states in the Midwest and South, are the latest victim of this war on American manufacturing.

For years, China has taken advantage of every loophole to dump products into the United States and undermine American producers. To evade China-specific duties, the Chinese Communist Party and corporate proxies on its bankroll have even shifted manufacturing operations to India, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and beyond, where they can continue cheating American businesses. This “country-hopping” isn’t clever entrepreneurship, but a tactic designed to covertly break U.S. trade law and undermine Trump’s efforts to rebuild U.S. manufacturing.

“Worse yet, many of these manufacturers masquerade as “American” companies when they are actually major importers with foreign supply chains. India is becoming the new China, and as indicated by the Hoover Institute, India’s democracy is in a “troubling state,” with little respect for workers’ rights or the rule of law. A multi-billion dollar Indian-owned importer offshores thousands of jobs to India and donates heavily to Trump-hating Democrats. Separately, they sourcea large volume of natural stone from Xinjiang and Quanzhou in China, where 54% of all quartz is mined using forced labor. These importers are flooding the U.S. with unfairly traded imports while 100,000 American jobs are on life support.”

If U.S. manufacturing jobs continue to be offshored to India or to communist China, there will be real and devastating consequences. Millions of American jobs will be lost across the value chain. Furthermore, in times of crisis, our import over-reliance will completely jeopardize our national security, causing us to rely on foreign countries for basic materials that are crucial for U.S. economic and national security.

America First investigations, like the one brought before the U.S. International Trade Commission by the Quartz Manufacturing Alliance of America, represent a trade enforcement mechanism that empowers the government to impose temporary relief from this onslaught of imports. This mechanism can be used to save American jobs when evidence shows the domestic market is being manipulated by foreign-subsidized imports.

Whether it’s steel, textiles or furniture, the playbook is the same for foreign countries that dump subsidized, unfairly traded products into the United States, and American workers feel the pain.

Predictably, these “America Last” importers that masquerade as “American” companies are fighting Trump’s agenda. They are using tried and true scare tactics to spark unfounded fears that leveling the playing field for 100,000 American workers will drive up costs. The International Trade Commission conducted an investigation, finding that the cost of imported quartz countertops makes up only 0.07 percent of the average cost of a new home, and rejected claims that imposing a tariff on the flood of imports “will contribute to ‘housing affordability’ concerns in the United States.”

Under Trump’s strong leadership, we have seen a historic response to unfairly traded surging imports from foreign countries that threaten to decimate communities across America’s heartland. With the midterms approaching, millions of American workers will once again stand with Trump, if he keeps fighting for them. The globalist elites will never defeat our president’s efforts to launch a new golden age for American manufacturing.

While communist China, India, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and other nefarious foreign countries continue to cheat, President Trump is continuing to fight for the forgotten men and women of America. Now is the time to support his efforts to bring back millions of manufacturing jobs and truly make our country great.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.