The Manufacturing Boom We Already Had

A Q&A with Biden industrial-policy official Alex Jacquez on the right way to boost domestic production in critical sectors

by David Dayen
April 11, 2025


There’s something particularly galling about the Trump economic policy, beyond the tariff whipsawing, beyond the potential for financial collapse. For me and others, it’s that the very goal Trump claims to be after—to curtail the mercantilist rise of China and allow for a more balanced and diversified supply chain—was already being addressed, and achieved, by the last administration. Under Joe Biden, the government encouraged advanced manufacturing in critical and emerging industries, using subsidies, advance market commitments, and even tariffs to allow them to build and grow. And even ardent free-traders agree that it was successful: Manufacturing construction skyrocketed, manufacturing jobs gained after a recession for the first time in 60 years, and the clusters and knowledge share that is critical for virtuous circles of production were starting to take hold.

Then Trump broke it, through illegal pauses on grants and cuts to important manufacturing programs and the tariff uncertainty. States reliant on manufacturing are stumbling, and some startups are shuttering. Worst of all, the Biden advanced-manufacturing boom risks moving down the memory hole. That would be disastrous for smart policy to address a legitimate gap in industrial strategy.

To talk about what is happening now and what was done a few years ago, I talked to Alex Jacquez, who was a special assistant to President Biden for economic development and industrial strategy at the National Economic Council. Alex now serves as chief of policy and advocacy at Groundwork Collaborative. We discussed Trump’s tariffs and how the business community will handle them, the role of tariffs as part of a “triangle” of industrial policy, and how Democrats should think about bringing home manufacturing.

David Dayen: So there’s been a big change since I set up this interview with you. Trump paused a bunch of his tariffs, but now the China tariff is up to 125 percent. I’m not one to get too dug in on business certainty, but if you’re a business, how can you invest, how can you make decisions right now?
https://prospect.org/economy/2025-04-11-manufacturing-boom-we-already-had-alex-jacquez-interview/