It is primary season! Which candidates are going to support Reshoring?

The Reshoring Initiative does not support individual candidates. It identifies policies that will bring manufacturing back from offshore and will try to document candidate positions on these issues. We encourage viewers to support candidates that endorse these policies. We will expand on this blog as more details come to light. For now, let’s look for candidates who support:

Making skilled workforce training as high a priority as university education

Lowering the USD to make the country competitive

Emphasizing reducing imports as much as increasing exports

Lowering corporate tax rates

Replacing other taxes with a Value Added Tax (VAT)

Questioning the TPP

The economic stimulus of growth in manufacturing will solve most of our national problems and reduce budget deficits to the point where we might be able to afford some of the politicians’ other promised programs.

If anyone has connections with either campaign, please contact us. We would be pleased to provide ideas and positions on a range of issues designed to strengthen U.S. manufacturing.

Some Known Candidate Positions: (In alphabetic order by last name. We tried to include all relevant policies. In some cases we added Reshoring Initiative Comments to indicate where we believe the position is finally not the best choice, or to clarify our view.)

Hillary Clinton:

Summary from Cerasis:

"Clinton’s view on manufacturing is reminiscent of how manufacturers were able to pull the country into a new era through providing hard-working Americans with a stable job. Her platform on manufacturing revolves around an incentive-based system to encourage manufacturers to avoid outsourcing jobs. According to Hillary for America, her plan for manufacturing includes a five-step strategy, which begins with opposition to trade partnerships, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Step 1: Make America the Strategic Partner for Manufacturing.

Clinton’s plan will link the supply chain together in an effort to entice manufacturers to continue reshoring of jobs and avoid sending any new jobs overseas in the first place. Part of the reason so many jobs have been sent to China involves resources.

China’s decades of experience in manufacturing have led to a virtual stockpile of the equipment and resources needed in manufacturing. Many suppliers have bases of operations in Asia, so simply making U.S. manufacturers cease all overseas production would be impractical. Instead, Clinton proposes a $10 billion investment into U.S. manufacturing to ensure the resources and suppliers can be available in the U.S., not overseas, reports Alana Wise.

Step 2: Ensure Global Trade Rules Stand.

Global trade rules have been a hot-button topic on the campaign trail. While the presidential candidates have expressed concern over the validity of other countries’ actions in international trade, Hillary plans to increase oversight of overseas trade rules, which will prevent other countries from “gaming the system.”

Step 3: Start With Hardest-Hit Areas.

Areas like Pennsylvania, which was among the areas most affected by the offshoring of manufacturing jobs, reports Anna Orso, needs some sort of government stimulus to revitalize manufacturing. These areas may be able to receive tax relief, tax credits and access to government-funding sources to further rebuild the infrastructure to be conducive of a return of manufacturing.

Step 4: Penalize Manufacturers That Move Overseas.

The damage of offshoring has already been done, but reshoring holds promise for the future. Under Clinton’s plan, manufacturers that move operations overseas without reason beyond “cheaper labor” will be subject to potential assessment of penalties. Yet, her plan for reshoring goes a step further by providing additional federal support, tax relief and government assistance for small businesses and startups, which includes access to capital.

Step 5: Help Workers Gain the Skills Manufacturers Need.

Manufacturers need skilled workers, and the days when parents taught children a specific trade have long since passed. Clinton plans to encourage apprenticeships, vocational programs and credentialing centers to help train and prepare more workers for jobs in manufacturing. As manufacturing moves toward a robotic future, the need for more skilled workers with engineering skills will grow, and this part of her plan will handle this concern."

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Supports reshoring, rejects TTP

- Pledges to take back tax breaks for firms that ship jobs overseas.

“Why don't we do what people say we should, and have tax credits and incentives for companies that want to reshore jobs, bring them back, build the facilities here?"

On taxes: Strengthens rules preventing inversions.

also see Morning Joe clip at minute 3:45

(Reshoring Comment: We prefer eliminating all special credits and reducing the corporate tax rate to 22%.)

Bernie Sanders:

Decidedly against the TPP. Instead of passing such trade deals again and again, Bernie argues we must "develop trade policies which demand that American corporations create jobs here, and not abroad."

(Reshoring Comment: We need trade policies and a domestic environment that attract manufacturing)

On taxes: Ends the deferral of tax on foreign income. Creates several limits on the foreign tax credit. Revises rules about corporate inversions and foreign corporations operating domestically.

(Reshoring Comment: We disagree on most points.)

Donald Trump:

Summary from Cerasis:

"Saying exactly what’s on your mind may not be appropriate for restoring America’s manufacturing epicenter, but Trump’s policies do follow some beneficial pathways. According to DonaldJTrump.com, Trump believes the key to encouraging continued growth of U.S. manufacturing needs to focus on China.

He plans on to follow the same path as Clinton in terms of ensuring China does not violate international trade rules. Although Trump’s ideas for ceasing all overseas production by U.S. manufacturers seem ideal, they could have serious consequences for U.S. manufacturers. For example, the price of goods, such as the Apple iPhone, reports Issie Lapowsky, could rise dramatically.

Ironically, Apple has already made strides to return manufacturing to the U.S. In fact, Apple currently manufacturers Apple Macs in Austin, Texas, but Trump wants to provide some sort of relief package to U.S. manufacturers to further increase manufacturing in the U.S., which include the following:

Eliminating the corporate tax. As a result, Trump believes this action would provide the financial capital to manufacturers to continue reshoring without necessarily providing a government-funding source of capital. In other words, this is the same plan as Hillary, but it will not rely on taxpayer dollars as a funding source. Yet, any sort of elimination of taxes will inherently lead to the need for taxes from some other part of the system.

Reduce, if not eliminate, discounted or zero-tariff imports to the U.S. U.S. manufacturers have had the benefit of manufacturing overseas and paying little to no charges for importing of products from foreign factories to U.S. soil. If these tariffs were reconsidered or eliminated, foreign manufacturing would need to pay additional fees to import goods to U.S. customers."

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Longtime critic of offshoring. His "Make America Great Again" hats are stamped with the guarantee that they’re "proudly made in the USA." However, a huge portion of products from the Trump empire are manufacturered overseas.

Trump opposes TPP. His plan for reshoring can be seen here.

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Readers, please submit more candidate positions with links to reliable sources. We will do the same!

The Reshoring Initiative will monitor content to assure appropriateness.

If anyone has connections with either campaign, please contact us. We would be pleased to provide ideas and positions on a range of issues designed to strengthen U.S. manufacturing.