WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed on Wednesday an order to improve job training for skilled trades, an initiative twinned with tariffs in his gambit to revive U.S. manufacturing.
The Labor, Education and Commerce departments will focus on job needs in emerging industries including those enabled by artificial intelligence, with a goal to support more than 1 million apprenticeships per year, according to a White House summary of the order, which was first reported by Reuters.
The Republican president, who took office in January, shocked markets with a blitz of tariffs on imports, some of which are now paused pending negotiations with U.S. trading partners.
Trump has promoted levies on imports as a solution for a wide range of ills including a decades-long decline in U.S. factory jobs. Some of his economic advisers blame this trend on industries relocating factories abroad where workers earn lower wages, thus shrinking high-paying career opportunities for Americans without college degrees.
Tariffs could steer more U.S. customers to American-made goods. But any hoped-for U.S. factory renaissance faces several obstacles, including a shortage of skilled workers. The U.S. has been training far fewer factory workers for decades now, while retirements and immigration crackdowns are draining the pool of labor available to manufacturers.
The new executive order is aimed at tilting U.S. government agencies away from overwhelming support for the professional jobs that colleges and universities prepare workers for, and toward backing skilled trades, like electricians, machinists and nursing assistants.
