President Trump is Right About American Manufacturing. But Are His Tariffs Beginning to Hurt it?

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President Trump is Right 

About American Manufacturing. 

But Are His Tariffs Beginning to Hurt it?

by Scott Campbell | President, Crossroad Distributor Source

 Tariffs can defend American Industry from unfair trade. But when they raise U.S. input costs, trigger retaliation and push longtime customers to new suppliers, they can also undermine the manufacturing base they are meant to strengthen.

President Trump is right about one important issue: the United States needs a stronger manufacturing base. For decades, we allowed critical manufacturing capacity to move overseas while becoming increasingly dependent on foreign supply chains. Tariffs can be an appropriate response to dumping, government subsidies and countries that engage in unfair trade practices.

But the administration’s escalating tariff policy—particularly the trade conflict with Canada—deserves a serious second look. Section 232 tariffs on steel and derivative steel products can now reach 50%. At that level, tariffs can fundamentally change the economics of American manufacturing.

The fastener industry provides a good example. Specialty threaded inserts and engineered fasteners used in aerospace, defense and industrial applications are not always commodities that can simply be replaced by another supplier. They may require specific materials, dimensional tolerances, military or aerospace specifications, lot traceability, locking characteristics and customer qualification. 

I strongly support expanding American manufacturing capacity for these products. But a 50% tariff does not create that capacity overnight. It does not purchase machinery, build tooling, train workers or complete the qualification process required for aerospace and defense applications. If adequate domestic capacity does not exist, the American customer still needs the component. It simply costs more.

Now add Canadian retaliation. An American manufacturer can potentially pay higher costs on imported steel, specialty fasteners or components coming into the United States and then find its finished American product subjected to retaliatory tariffs when sold into Canada.

How does that make the American manufacturer more competitive? 

There is another consequence of President Trump’s tariff strategy that may prove even more damaging over the long term.

OUR CUSTOMERS ARE LEARNING HOW TO BUY WITHOUT US.

If a Canadian manufacturer or distributor suddenly finds an American product 25% or 50% more expensive, it has little choice but to investigate alternatives. Canada. Europe. Asia. Once another supplier has been qualified, pricing negotiated and a new supply chain established, there is no guarantee that business returns to the United States when the tariffs eventually disappear.

SUPPLY CHAINS REMEMBER DISTRIBUTION.

This is where I believe the administration needs to make a greater distinction between economic competitors and strategic partners. Canada is not China. Canada is not a geopolitical adversary. It is our neighbor, a NATO ally and an integral part of a North American industrial supply chain built over generations. There is an enormous difference between strategic dependence on an adversary and industrial interdependence with an ally.

President Trump’s objective of rebuilding American manufacturing is one I support. But tariff policy should ultimately be judged by whether it accomplishes that objective—not simply by how high we can make the tariff. If tariffs encourage American investment, manufacturing and additional capacity, that is a success. But if they increase an American manufacturer’s input costs, make its exports less competitive, trigger retaliation and teach longtime customers to source elsewhere, we need to ask whether the policy is producing the opposite result. 

The goal should not simply be fewer imports.

The goal should be a stronger American manufacturing base.

And one of the best ways to accomplish that is by building the strongest, most secure and most competitive North American industrial base in the world. Canada should be part of President Trump’s strategy to rebuild American manufacturing— not its casualty. ◀

American Fastener Journal | September/October 2026 

Crossroad Perspective