With China tariffs, Trump wants to make manufacturing American again. Will it work?

This is the first in a two-part series about the tariffs likely to be levied on China during Donald Trump’s second term as US president. This part examines the state of trade and taxation from the Americans’ point of view, while part two explores China’s side of the story.

When Robert Lighthizer speaks of his early life – spent in a once-thriving industrial town deep in the American rust belt – the long-time Donald Trump ally makes it clear his commitment to reviving domestic manufacturing is as personal as it is political.

Having shaped trade policy during Trump’s first term as president, the former United States Trade Representative (USTR) views reindustrialization – and wiping out what he sees as China’s edge in trade – as a patriotic mission and economic necessity.

“We need substantial tariffs on China because they are an adversary, they’re taking advantage of us. Now we have to get that back to balance,” the 77-year-old lawyer said last month in a lengthy talk with the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), a conservative educational non-profit.

Now, as Trump prepares a return to the White House, a new era of economic policy driven by tariffs appears all but certain.

Trump’s choice for commerce secretary, the investment banker Howard Lutnick, issued a full-throated defence of import duties in an October interview on finance broadcaster CNBC. “Tariffs are an amazing tool,” he said. “If we want to make it in America, tariff it.”