With the congressional midterm election less than a month away and economic issues at the forefront of voters’ minds, a new report on the U.S. manufacturing sector brings bright news. Thanks in part to President Donald Trump’s commitment to tariffs on foreign goods and tax incentives for U.S. businesses, manufacturing is roaring back to life, with new manufacturing orders and employment growing in September for the ninth month in a row.
Multiple industries, including steel production, cloud computing, and chip manufacturing, are lining up to make the U.S. more self-sufficient and prosperous.
The Institute for Supply Management’s September report, released Oct. 1, shows strong growth across the manufacturing sector, with economic activity rising for the ninth month in a row.
According to the report, the Manufacturing PMI clocked in at 54.5 percent, placing economic activity in expansion territory for the ninth consecutive month. Both the new orders index and the employment index rose in September, with the new orders index rising 1.6 percentage points and the employment index rising 1.5 percentage points compared to August.
However, prices were also on the rise in September, with the prices index rising 6.8 percentage points compared to August. It is this rise in prices that caused 40 percent of comments from members of the manufacturing sector to fall into negative territory as companies express concern about price volatility.
Still, with new orders and employment up, demand for U.S.-made goods and employment across the manufacturing sector are picking up significantly. According to the report, of the six largest manufacturing industries, five increased production in September. U.S. production rose across petroleum and coal products, food and tobacco products, transportation equipment, computer and electronic products, and chemical products.
These are no small feats. Thanks to President Trump’s commitment to breathing life back into the manufacturing sector, the United States is rapidly becoming home to expanding businesses across a variety of sectors.
The White House noted in October that President Trump has secured $11.2 trillion in U.S. and foreign investments across manufacturing, critical infrastructure, and technology sectors since returning to office.
President Trump’s manufacturing achievements include a revitalization of the U.S. mining sector, with Mesabi Metallics announcing in September what it is calling “the largest steel mill investment in American history” — an $18 billion investment distributed across Minnesota and Iowa.
The investment is massive not only in terms of financial growth, with the project expected to generate $95 billion in economic output across the life of the facility, but also because it allows the U.S. to own the entire supply chain instead of depending on foreign countries for mined materials.
“It is an integrated, all-American supply chain: iron ore mined in Minnesota, transformed into steel in Iowa, and supplied to American manufacturers,” Mesabi Metallics noted in a statement. “By connecting the mine directly to the steelmaking complex, Mesabi Metallics is building new domestic capacity and reducing reliance on imported iron and steel,” the statement added.
President Trump has also driven investment in cloud computing, with SpaceX announcing a $16.8 billion investment in August toward the first phase of its new semiconductor facility in Texas. The facility will employment for engineers, technicians, and plant operators and is estimated to create 3,000 jobs.
President Trump’s commitment to ensuring the U.S. remains a leader in AI and chip production resulted in an additional $100 billion investment on top of an already committed $265 billion from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) in July. The Trump administration announced that the additional investment from TSMC will fund four new semiconductor manufacturing and packaging facilities in Arizona.
With the election being dictated largely by economic issues this November, voters may be critical of the higher short-term costs associated with tariffs, but there are also tangible long-term benefits to the Trump administration’s approach.
The data on manufacturing growth is undeniable. President Trump did not see the decline of the U.S. manufacturing industry as inevitable or acceptable. Instead, President Trump designed an incentive structure to bring U.S. manufacturing back.
A July report from the National Association of Manufacturers revealed that the Working Families Tax Cuts signed into law by President Trump in 2025 have saved six million jobs and preserved $540 billion in wages across all 50 states. The Treasury Department also estimates that the tax cuts have reduced taxes for over 12 million small-business owners by roughly $7,000 each.
Through a combination of tax cuts and tariffs, the Trump administration applied pressure on the U.S. economy to become more self-reliant across multiple industries, including mining and steel, cloud computing, and AI. American workers and consumers are the beneficiaries of a growing manufacturing sector that employs citizens, contributes to GDP and reduces dependence on foreign countries for necessary goods.
Manzanita Miller is the senior political analyst at Americans for Limited Government Foundation.
