President Trump's allies say his tariffs are helping Rust Belt cities make a comeback, casting the area as a beneficiary of the trade war.

Why it matters: Former industrial powerhouses like Pittsburgh once fueled America's growth — but economists say tariffs alone won't bring back the old steel economy that some want to recapture.

The big picture: Trump has signed a flurry of tariffs over his first three months in office, including a 25% tax on imported steel and aluminum and varying degrees of tariffs on dozens of nations.

State of play: Supporters of Trump's trade war see it as a path to rebuilding the U.S. manufacturing base — reversing decades of industrial job losses.

• "I fully support President Trump's critical efforts to right this generational wrong, bring manufacturing jobs home, and rejuvenate American working families," said Republican U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, who represents mill towns in Pittsburgh's Mon Valley, last week on X.

Reality check: Chris Briem, a regional economist with the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Social and Urban Research, said trade policies had little impact on the loss of the region's steel and manufacturing jobs, noting that the steel industry's collapse in the 1980s was a decade before the North American Free Trade Agreement was signed.

• Pittsburgh's steel industry suffered because of modernization, non-coal fuel sources and more efficient technology that didn't need as many workers, Briem told Axios.

By the numbers: Pittsburgh manufacturing employment peaked in the 1950s with about 380,000 jobs, but began to decline shortly after and has been in a virtual free fall ever since.

• The pandemic marked a low point for Pittsburgh-area manufacturing, which fell to about 82,000 jobs in April 2020, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• Things have ticked up a bit from there, but the region has only added about 3,000 manufacturing jobs since.

The other side: Nine steel executives — including U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt — told Trump in a March letter that his 2018 steel tariffs led to nearly $20 billion in industry investment.

Zoom in: U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Allegheny) approves of some targeted tariffs, but told Axios that Trump's across-the-board approach is reckless and "divorced from any policy to supercharge manufacturing."

• He noted that Howmet, a Pittsburgh-based airplane parts manufacturer, recently warned it might cancel its orders to Boeing and Airbus because of the tariffs.

What's next

Pennsylvania is seeing a spike in state campsite bookings as the Trump administration's large-scale firings play out at national parks.

Why it matters: State parks are preparing for what they say could be a record-breaking summer.

The big picture: More than 750 U.S. national park workers have been laid off this year, including dozens in the Keystone State, per an unofficial tally shared with Axios by a park ranger.

• Some affected parks are already making changes, including limiting hours.
• DOGE's cost-cutting also led to the closure of hundreds of campsites at a popular federally run Pennsylvania destination, Raystown Lake.

Driving the news: Pennsylvania's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is seeing a nearly 30% year-over-year increase in people booking campsites across the state.

• Roughly a quarter of the 7,100 state-run campsites at Pennsylvania's 124 parks and 20 forests are already booked up for peak season, which runs between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

State of play: DCNR has launched a new campaign to remind travelers that Pennsylvania-run campsites are "Still Open, Still Awesome."

• DCNR says Gov. Josh Shapiro's administration's $5 million investment in Outdoor Corps has allowed it to add staff for conservation efforts.

Zoom in: The state regional park area that includes Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania has seen a 14% increase in reservations.

• Western Pennsylvania state forests have seen a nearly 42% increase.

Zoom out: Trough Creek State Park in Huntingdon County leads the state with a 189% spike in reservations.

If you go: You can book state campsites and lodging at state parks here or by calling 888-PA-PARKS.

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🪪 Seven current and former international students at Carnegie Mellon had their visas revoked by the Trump administration, and local immigration lawyers report similar revocations happening at the University of Pittsburgh. (TribLive)

☕️ Popular coffee shop La Prima announced it will be opening a new location at 3400 Fifth Ave. in Oakland soon. It will be the local roaster's fifth cafe. (La Prima)

🏋 Former NFL star Rob Gronkowski returned to his alma mater Woodland Hills High School yesterday to celebrate the school's new fitness center. (WPXI)

🏭 A natural gas power plant is being proposed in Washington County to serve as the center of an industrial project called Fort Cherry Development District that hopes to house data centers and other industrial operations. (Press release)

Roughly 29% of municipal offices in Pennsylvania are filled by women, per a new analysis from the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.

The big picture: Pennsylvania now ranks 34th in the nation for gender parity at the local level – falling three places since last year.

• The state's share of women in such offices is slightly below the national average of 32%.

Yes, but: Sara Innamorato made history last year as the first woman elected Allegheny County executive, and women make up 44% of Pittsburgh City Council.