Key Takeaways
- Tariffs are expected to push companies to bring manufacturing back to the U.S., but a new report said that automation will likely replace some of that job creation.
- While reshoring has created about 2 million U.S. jobs over the past decade and a half, manufacturing still accounts for only about 8% of the U.S. workforce.
- “Nearshoring,” where production is moved to closer or more friendly countries, is seen as a more likely result of tariffs, with Mexico, Vietnam, and India expected to be big beneficiaries, a Bank of America report showed.
Tariffs are set to be a big win for one North American country: Meꦍxico.
A new report from Bank of America showed that while higher import taxes pushed by President Donald Trump may bring some manufacturing back to the U.S., the policy is mജore likely to create even more production opportunities for nearby countries like Mexico.
According to the BofA Global Research survey of 56 of the firm's analysts, only 20% of respondents expect that tariffs and other policy changes will result in significant “澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:reshoring,” where manufacturing that is based in another country is relocated to the U.S. Instead, nearly two in five said that relocation back to the U.S. is more likely to be "mild" and focused on specific sectors.
“Therefore, nearshoring, or friendshoring, appe🐻ars much more likely to benefit from tariffs this time around,” the June 5 report said. “Mexico is considered to be a net beneficiary from the [move] from cost efficiency to geopolitical risk management.”
The report comes as 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Mexico has been subject to its own set of tariffs by the Trump administrationܫ𒁃, though some have been delayed.
Reshoring May Favor Automation Over New Jobs
Trump has argued that tariffs will benefit the U.S. economy, namely that they will bring manufacturing back to the U.S. and reduce the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:U.S. trade deficit. However, the report showed that most reshoring is like﷽ly to occur in select industries like electr♛onics, biotechnology, and metals and mining.
Reshoring already has been happening, the report found, creating nearly 2 million U.S. manufacturing jobs over the past 15 years, with about half of that coming in the past five years. However, manufacturing jo🅷bs still only account for 8% of th⛄e U.S. workforce, down from 30% in the 1980s.
That’s thanks to higher tariffs introduced in Trump’s first administration, along with job-creating legislative initiatives from former President Joe Biden’s administration like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPs) ✤Act.
Most of the new manufacturing jobs in the U.S. are focused on electrical equipment, appliances, electric vehicle batteriꦐes, and computers, as well as transportation equipment like cars and airplanes, the report said. But advances in automation may undercut some job creation, it added.
“Since most of the reshoringꦗ will be concentrated in industrials and manufacturing, reshoring will not create a significant number of new jobs as those new production lines will be mostly automated,” the report said.
Mexico, Vietnam Expected To Benefit from ꦜ‘Nearshoring’
What’s more expected, especially in more labor-focused industries, is “friendshoring” or “nearshoring,” in which production is moved out of places like China and either closer to the U.S., or to p🅺laces with better U.S. relations, the survey found.
“The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and geographical proximity makes Mexico a more straightforward potential beneficiary,” the repor🌱t found. “Additionally, Mexico should be a net beneficiar෴y in transportation, food and beverages, restaurants, and homebuilders.”
Other countries likely to benefit from this shift are 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Vietnam, Thailand, and India, the report found.