Tech jobs, robots are Lutnick's vision for America's "manufacturing renaissance"
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Howard Lutnick at the White House on March 26 Photo: Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Thursday touted the use of robotics in his pitch for an American "manufacturing renaissance."
The big picture: While President Trump's tariffs are meant to boost American manufacturing and jobs, U.S. manufacturers will likely hurt from these tariffs, at least in the short run. Whether they lead to more jobs in the long term remains an open question.
What he's saying: Lutnick made the case in several TV interviews this week that tariffs will bring jobs and factories back to the U.S., saying they'll utilize robotics to make American workers "more efficient."
- Speaking on CNBC, he said that with the use of robotics, factories are "going to see the greatest surge in training for what we call trade craft — teaching people how to be robotics, mechanics, engineers and electricians for high tech factories."
- On CNN, Lutnick said, "We use robotics here. It's cheaper than cheap labor overseas." He added, "The renaissance will be the greatest factories in the world, high-tech people. What are the jobs Americans are going to have? We are going to have mechanics who fix robotics."
- On Fox News' Hannity on Wednesday, Lutnick touted that "a high school-educated workforce is going to get trained to do robot mechanic," adding that it'll bring the "coolest" and "highest-paying jobs" to the U.S.
Between the lines: If the jobs are for repairing and maintaining robots to do the factory work, blue collar jobs likely won't be as plentiful.
Flashback: Former President Biden had also floated the use of robotics in his clean energy push, including for solar panel installation and wind turbines.
- But the interest in automation paired with a vow to create millions of jobs as part of the clean energy boom proved to be a difficult undertaking — and one that could take years to come to fruition.
Our thought bubble, via Axios' Emily Peck: American manufacturing is already quite advanced and has increased in productivity overall.
- That means fewer workers are needed. So while the industry has grown over the past decade, there hasn't been a proportionate increase in jobs.
Go deeper: Tariffs will squeeze manufacturers and jobs may not follow
