With the ongoing debates on tariffs and the push to revitalize industry and agriculture here in Utah, it’s time to reassess priorities: U.S. production and labor costs are too high to re-shore lost manufacturing without severe economic pain, and even success won’t guarantee competitiveness.
The only methods available are taxes or devaluations that hit Americans hard. Tariffs are always passed on to the consumer; price floors ensure domestic survival while guaranteeing losses abroad unless Americans are willing to pay more to offset them; lower wages are a nonstarter, especially with recently higher inflation; subsidies are unsustainable and hit taxpayers directly; and currency devaluation will hurt everyone and especially retirees. Re-shoring key manufacturing for national security may be desirable, but hardship will still follow.
To get ahead of this looming problem, we must invest in education, skilled labor and research to move towards more advanced manufacturing. America remains the global leader and Utah is high in the education rankings, but an economically hostile China is catching up and looking further ahead, unhindered by short election cycles.
The U.S. and Utah need to adopt policies that attract and retain top global talent to study and research here. It’s necessary to adopt research-friendly policies across all fields, because it’s all interconnected and may spark progress elsewhere. We shouldn’t be strangling or pushing away our talent. We can’t go back to how things were, and no one can show us the way forward; only educated and inspired leaders can guide us if we would just stop staring in the rearview mirror.
William Campbell, Orem