Buy American is a concept as old as the nation.
The number of U.S. manufacturing workers has plummeted from a peak of 19.6 million in 1979 to 12.7 million in September 2025. As a share of all nonfarm jobs, manufacturing has slid from 29% in 1960 to 8% today.
The decline of American manufacturing has played out over decades. No one president, political party, or foreign power bears all of the blame.
America embraced imports with the North American Free Trade Agreement, a 1994 treaty that lowered trade barriers between the United States and its neighbors, Canada and Mexico.
The founding of the World Trade Organization, or WTO, in 1995 heralded an era of globalization. China’s entry to the WTO in 2001 flooded America with low-cost imports.
“I just don’t talk about price, ever, because there’s no point,” said Matt Bigelow, CEO of USA Brands, a manufacturer of flannel shirts, blue jeans and teddy bears.
“Something like 90% or 95% of all the world’s toys and teddy bears and plush are made in China,” he said. If you go on Amazon and you look for a cheap teddy bear, you’re not going to find us.”
Instead, they compete on quality.
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