Trump: America is looking to build tanks and computers not socks and T-shirts
President Donald Trump says his U.S. tariff policies - which have rattled global trade, supply chains and financial markets - are designed to encourage American manufacturing of cutting edge technology products and military equipment rather than apparel and sneakers.
"I'm not looking to make T-shirts, to be honest. I'm not looking to make socks. We can do that very well in other locations,' Trump told reporters before boarding Air Force One in New Jersey on May 25. 'We are looking to do chips and computers and lots of other things, and tanks and ships.'
Trump added that he agreed with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that the U.S. does not need a "booming textile industry' - comments that were roundly criticized by domestic manufacturers and producers of fiber, yarn, home products, and more.
"We're not looking to make sneakers and T-shirts. We want to make military equipment,' he said. 'We want to make big things. We want to make, do the AI thing.'
China has been the world's largest apparel manufacturer and exporter for more than a decade. In response to the Republican president's trade war with Beijing, several Chinese social media users have mocked the United States with AI-generated viral videos depicting bored, unskilled and disengaged Americans unsure of how to prepare a piece of fabric before placing it on a sewing machine. Others in the videos have glazed looks while assembling smartphones. Toward the end, the screen flashes, 'Make America Great Again.'
The American Apparel & Footwear Association responded to Trump's remarks saying that additional tariffs would only further burden the industry.
"With 97% of the clothes and shoes we wear being imported, and with clothes and shoes already the most highly tariffed industry in the U.S., we need to focus on common sense solutions that can move the needle," AAPA President Steve Lamar said in a statement. "More tariffs will only mean higher input costs for U.S. manufacturers and higher prices that will hurt lower income consumers."
Trump on April 3 announced global "Liberation Day" reciprocal tariffs, sending the world's financial markets into a nosedive before pausing the tariffs for 90 days for most countries except China. Trump won the 2016 and 2024 U.S. presidential elections in part by appealing to working class voters hurt by the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs over many years.
The Trump administration has been negotiating trade deals with various countries since April.
The only deal reached so far has been with the United Kingdom. Talks with China, which imposed tit-for-tat tariffs on the U.S., are ongoing after both countries agreed to lower steep tariffs.
Contributing: Zac Anderson, USA TODAY; Reuters
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump wants America to build computers and tanks, not T-shirts
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