What kind of manufacturing are we talking about?
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) -- St. Joseph experienced wrenching change from the late 1990s through the early 2000s with the downsizing or closing of major manufacturing employers.
The names of these companies -- Quaker Oats, Mead, Stetson Hat and Wire Rope – evoke memories of St. Joseph’s blue-collar glory days. The city and the local workforce adjusted as best they could, but the transition was difficult. For a time, unemployment jumped to 10%.
St. Joseph was not alone in experiencing the downside of globalization. This hollowing out of America’s industrial heartland produced long-term effects: disruption to family life and depopulation in small towns. Even the opioid crisis could be viewed as a residual effect, given the sense of hopelessness when these once-steady jobs evaporated.
Another residual effect would be Donald Trump. From the moment he entered the political stage, Trump capitalized on the lingering resentment across the country. St. Joseph, with its loss of manufacturing jobs, was fertile ground for his protectionist message.
But an unexpected thing happened between Quaker Oats and Trump. St. Joseph reinvented itself. Employers became more nimble and started to require post-secondary training to work in skilled manufacturing. Many of those companies are not afraid to compete in a global marketplace.
St. Joseph companies exported $830 million in goods in 2023, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. In Missouri, that’s more than Springfield and Columbia.
Free traders can’t ignore that Trump tapped into something real when he identified domestic manufacturing as a critical issue. Most Americans, it would seem, share the broad goal of increased industrial output and an end to unfair trade practices.
That question becomes: What kind of manufacturing are we talking about? It is unrealistic to believe that your grandparents’ low-skill factory is coming back to the heartland. Where is St. Joseph going to find an army of workers willing to spend eight hours a day inserting tiny iPhone screws, especially if you restrict immigration?
The other issue is the long-term viability of manufacturers who return to our shores behind a wall of tariffs. Protected industries are inefficient and slow to innovate. Much has been written about tariffs and their impact on inflation, but the real effect comes with the lack of new products and processes. There’s a reason Ma Bell didn’t come up with the smartphone.
St. Joseph is a city with a unique perspective on the impact of trade. As the tariff war plays out, the key issue isn’t the immediate stock market shock but whether America’s manufacturing future looks like St. Joseph of the past or St. Joseph of today.
