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Beneath the cacophony of media noise, an important untold story emerges: A manufacturing boom is unfolding across America right now, and especially so in the geographic center of the country.
This developing boom represents an epochal shift because investments in factories and tangible production involve the stickiest kind of capital expenditures. The commitment to production involves a macro “bet” on a yearslong cycle, not a near-term wager on the latest fad or concerns about the price of gasoline next week.
As such, this mostly hidden story deserves to be studied and amplified, both for the economic benefits and also for the possible political windfall for candidates on the populist right.
But before considering the import of this shift, it’s important to look at the numbers, the verifiable on-the-ground data sets that prove this new reality. The most-watched gauge of productive activity, the ISM Manufacturing Index, just surged to a fresh four-year high. Specifically, that ISM reading stands at 55 now, well above the 50 mark, which signals expansion. It has been rising for seven months.
In addition, manufacturing employment is rising, similarly marking a new four-year record high. These jobs are high-paying, family-sustaining roles that make our whole society stronger, not part-time “hustles” or gig economy transitions.
Construction jobs related directly to factories and trade are soaring under President Donald Trump at 10 times the pace he inherited from former President Joe Biden. In the first quarter of 2025, when Trump took office, the United States only added 9,300 such construction jobs. So far in the third quarter of 2026, America has added 93,000 such construction positions and counting. Amazing progress!
How has this renaissance unfolded?
The answer is solid policy. First, the Trump administration insists on fair and reciprocal trade. Gone are the days of America tolerating abusive and predatory trade tactics, particularly China’s.
But even aside from our Chinese Communist Party opponents, allies and “friends” abused America economically as well. For instance, Western Europe massively subsidized exports to the United States through its VAT taxation system, making their goods far more affordable for Americans than U.S. goods sent across the Atlantic. Such non-tariff trade barriers have been smartly exposed and repelled by the new American approach to trade.
Today, the investment landscape in America makes it the best destination in the world for capital and resources. In fact, overseas capital now rushes to build and invest in the United States. Last year, in 2025, international capital spent $232 billion in the U.S., a whopping 50 percent increase over the 2024 levels under Biden.
This torrid pace shows no signs of slowing down, either. Looking to the future, the Financial Times reports that foreign capital commitments hit a new record high of $321.4 billion in 2025. Moreover, the United States earned a record 23.6 percent share of all such pledges globally. The days of simply managing the constant offshoring of American production are over, thank goodness!
Both overseas and domestic business leaders recognize that investing domestically in the United States makes sense under a restrained regulatory environment that encourages innovation and allows America’s entrepreneurial spirit to thrive. That legal and compliance framework is also now bolstered by an aggressive energy agenda that unleashes the full potential of America’s resources to power industry well into the future with plentiful, reliable U.S. energy.
Put together, all these metrics point to the “America First” economic agenda keeping a core promise: to re-industrialize America. In recent decades, much economic power has been centralized in a small cadre of credentialed elites. Now Americans are seeing the opposite trend unfold.
Yes, America can and should dominate finance and service-sector businesses. But a strong country must also make things, especially the most critical products for a modern economy, like advanced semiconductors and breakthrough medicines.
America is welcoming a quiet but very real manufacturing renaissance. Admittedly, public economic sentiment remains skeptical right now, which is understandable after 5 years of untenable inflation. But these epochal trends in manufacturing suggest that recent pronounced blue-collar real wage gains, meaning pay adjusted for the cost of living, will only accelerate going forward.
Turning to electoral politics, the legacy media sadly has no interest in covering this huge story. Thus, it is incumbent on our movement and our candidates to broadcast the good news of a very real trend that points to far more Main Street prosperity ahead.
Steve Cortes is former senior advisor to President Trump, former commentator for Fox News and CNN, and founder and president of the League of American Workers. He is also a contributor to the Daily Signal.
