(NewsNation) — President Donald Trump says his tariffs will bring factory jobs back to the United States, but economists on both sides of the political aisle are skeptical.
Jared Bernstein, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers under former President Joe Biden, called Trump’s reindustrialization promise a “myth” during an interview with NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas on Monday.
“If investors are sitting on their hands because of the uncertainty that this tariff agenda has generated, they’re not going to invest in that new warehouse or that new factory,” Bernstein said.
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Bernstein pointed out that even a country like Germany, known for its large trade surplus, has experienced a decline in the share of manufacturing jobs over the past decade.
“The [Trump] administration is telling us pain now and gain later,” Bernstein said. “I’m afraid that it’s pain now, more pain later.”
Stephen Moore, a Trump economic adviser in his first term, said the president is right that many countries charge higher tariffs on U.S. goods than the U.S. does on theirs but isn’t convinced a trade war will lead to a surge of domestic manufacturing jobs.
Watch the interview with Bernstein and Moore in the player above.
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“The other countries haven’t always played by the rules, but it’s just a truism that ten years from now almost all factory jobs will be done by robots,” Moore told Vargas.
Instead, Moore thinks the administration should make sure the U.S. retains its leadership in higher skill jobs like financial services, AI and technology.
So, what will end the economic turmoil? Moore said it’s on other countries to negotiate better terms.
“They’ve got to get on that phone and call Donald Trump and say let’s make a deal,” he said.
