Reindustrialization Requires Energy Dominance
Once the dream of a select group of policy wonks and hard-tech innovators, reindustrialization is now an explicit aim of American national policy. President Trump has made it a central economic objective in his second term, declaring in his inaugural address that “America will be a manufacturing nation once again.” President Trump is just the most prominent of a growing number of leaders who understand that industrial power underwrites economic resiliency, broad-based prosperity, and national security. Reindustrialization promises to restore vital economic assets and capacities that American policymakers in the past allowed to drift offshore, but it will not be an easy task.
Achieving reindustrialization will require public financing, private initiative, and the development of onshore supply chains the likes of which American manufacturers have not seen since the Cold War. Industrial policies, including subsidies, loan guarantees, and trade barriers, can bolster infant industries, rebuild decrepit production lines, and promote strategic sectors, such as advanced electronics. But these measures can only go so far and will not ensure the long-run competitiveness of American industry.
Reindustrialization is only possible if we have the energy to power new factories and will only thrive in the long run if American energy is stable, sovereign, and secure. Absent the energy to sustain new industrial production, public investment would be wasteful.
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