A "Made in America" Product Even Free Traders Can Support


By Merrill Matthews

President Trump recently announced "Made in America Week," when he emphasized the economic benefits of revitalizing the U.S. manufacturing sector. Many economists push back against such efforts, asserting there are numerous benefits to global trade and economic integration. But there is at least one sector where "Made in America" means a stronger economy, not a weaker one.

During "Made in America Week," the president hosted companies from every state in an attempt to "show off" products that are made entirely in the United States. However, one product was conspicuously missing from the White House's list of companies and their products: fossil fuels.

It's certainly not because the president is stiffing the energy industry, as President Obama habitually did. Trump may be the most pro-energy president we've had in decades.

But it's easy to overlook -- or simply not know -- that fossil fuel production and refining are part of the manufacturing sector. Indeed, it is one of the top four manufacturing sectors.

According to Statista, U.S. oil and gas revenue was $129.8 billion in 2015, down from $220.4 billion in 2014, but not because companies were producing or less. Rather, innovative drilling techniques have dramatically increased the supply of crude oil and natural gas, which resulted in falling prices -- not to mention cheaper gasoline at the pump.

One of Trump's key campaign themes was to encourage manufacturers to keep their operations U.S. based. Most U.S. oil and gas production already does exactly that -- because here is where the oil and natural gas is.

For example, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) says there were 216,000 producing oil wells in 2015, up from 181,000 in 2011. And there likely would have been more had the Obama administration not slow-walked and roadblocked applications to drill on federal lands and offshore.

Moreover, the energy boom is coincidentally addressing another Trump campaign promise: reducing the trade imbalance.

On the campaign trail, Trump frequently mentioned that the U.S. had an $800 billion trade deficit in manufactured goods.

The good news is since the U.S. is producing more of its own fossil fuel needs, it's buying less from other countries. According to the EIA, U.S. crude oil imports peaked in August 2006 at 456 million barrels that month. Those imports have been on a gradual but steady decline ever since. In April of this year the U.S. imported just only 307 million barrels.

U.S. dollars spent on foreign-produced crude oil added significantly to the trade deficit for decades, but has been declining for the last decade.

Finally, presidents don't just want to see job creation, they want to tout high-paying job growth. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that the average hourly earnings for nonsupervisory employees in the oil and gas industry is $39.00 per hour.

So even though Trump didn't include the fossil fuel industry in his Made in America showcase, he made it clear in his energy speech a few weeks ago that energy discovery and production play a key role in vision for a stronger America. The energy industry turned the U.S. into an economic powerhouse a century ago, left unshackled it can do so again.

Merrill Matthews is a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation in Dallas, Texas. Follow on Twitter @MerrillMatthews.

More Resources


03/28/2024
My Friend Joe
I write now, in the worst pain and shock, with news of my friend Joe Lieberman's death just moments ago. I write because I know what his critics will be quick to write, what news reports have already re-circulated.

more info


03/28/2024
Why I'm Resigning From the Biden State Department
Since Hamas' attack on October 7, Israel has used American bombs in its war in Gaza, which has killed more than 32,000 people - 13,000 of them children - with countless others buried under the rubble, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. Israel is credibly accused of starving the 2 million people who remain, according to the UN special rapporteur on the right to food; a group of charity leaders warns that without adequate aid, hundreds of thousands more will soon likely join the dead.

more info


03/28/2024
Gaza: Truths Behind All the Lies
From civilian casualties, the use of disproportionate force, and international biases, the mainstream narrative of the Gaza conflict often obfuscates the truth behind lies.

more info


03/28/2024
Obama, Fearing Biden Loss to Trump, Is On Phone To Strategize
As the election approaches, President Joe Biden is making regular calls to former President Barack Obama to catch up on the race or to talk about family. But Obama is making calls of his own to Jeffrey Zients, the White House chief of staff, and to top aides at the Biden campaign to strategize and relay advice.

more info


03/28/2024
Biden's Surprise Campaign Boost Has Changed 2024 Race
A standard State of the Union speech doesn't move the political needle much. But Biden's latest gave a surprise boost to his campaign in both polls and fundraising.

more info


03/28/2024
Carville Is Right: 'Preachy Women' Ruining Biden's Chances
Political strategist James Carville just issued Democrats an explicit warning that President Biden's poor polling numbers indicate serious problems with the Democratic Party.

more info


03/28/2024
Forget Kennedy Dems. Here Comes the 2024 Kennedy Voter
These days, the phrase "Kennedy voter" means different things to different members of Burke Cahill's family.

more info


03/28/2024
What NBC's Firing of McDaniel Means
Wednesday on the RealClearPolitics radio show (Monday through Friday at 6:00 p.m. EDT on SiriusXM's P.O.T.U.S. Channel 124), Andrew Walworth, Tom Bevan, and Carl Cannon talk about Ronna McDaniel being fired at NBC and Trump's Truth Social platform going public. They also discuss RFK Jr.'s new running mate, Nicole Shanahan, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's handling of the Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore.

more info


03/28/2024
McDaniel Pledged Allegiance to Trump's Big Lie
After a Trump-backed purge of the RNC this month, promoting the 2020 stolen election lie has become a litmus test for loyalty

more info


03/28/2024
Hard Times for the Professional Never Trump Losers
These are hard times for the professional Never Trumpers. Donald Trump is winning this election, they're not getting the attention they used to, and inflation has made pool boy rates simply outrageous. Those poll numbers showing Trump leading across the country have to be understood as a total repudiation of these jerks, because they are. There are a lot of reasons to want to see Trump win, but in the Top Five is seeing these goofs cry.

more info


03/28/2024
SCOTUS Abortion Pill Ruling May Doom Trump This Nov
If the Supreme Court decided to restrict mifepristone, it would energize Democrats on an issue that has proved effective for them at the ballot box.

more info


03/28/2024
Republican 'War on Women' Is a Media Myth
There's no evidence Republicans want to ban birth control. On the contrary, the GOP has led on efforts to make it easier to get birth control over the counter.

more info


03/28/2024
Trump Is Not the Victim of ‘Lawfare.' He's a Crook.
One of the reasons Republicans were so reluctant to accept Donald Trump's nomination in 2016 is that he was quite obviously a crook.

more info


03/28/2024
Progressives Have Damaged Public Faith in Our Legal System
The progressive lawfare campaign against conservatives is perhaps the most effective of the many leftist political attacks. There remains little doubt that America's justice system has been so corrupted that it is being unleashed as the main component of what Victor David Hanson has appropriately called the American "Jacobin Revolution."

more info


03/28/2024
Things Are Great, But They're Miserable, Too
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." In rereading the opening lines of Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities," I had the sense they were written last week, not almost two centuries ago.

more info



Custom Search

More Politics Articles:

Related Articles

Fuel the American Economy with Offshore Energy
Some parting gift: On his way out the White House door, President Barack Obama banned seismic surveying in the Atlantic Ocean from New England south to Virginia.
Oil and Gas Power Americans' Lives
Quick: What do makeup, prosthetics, and heart valves have in common?
Voters say they made the right decision in electing Donald Trump
"Forget the pundits who belittle the resolve of the Trump Administration to live up to the promises made to voters. The fact is that Mr. Trump has a well-documented to-do list and he's lost no time in checking off the tasks he's completed in the less than three months he's been in office," says Dan Weber, president of the Association of Mature American Citizens.
Time to Fire the VA Health System
Rewarding failure appears to be something of a tradition at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Problems with a Carbon Tax
While President Donald Trump wants to cut taxes, there are others who hope to raise them -- by taxing carbon.
March-In Rights Disregard the Law and Risk Patient Health
President Donald Trump recently tweeted that he's "working on a new system where there will be competition in the Drug Industry. Pricing for the American people will come way down!"
Designing a Solution to our Nation's Productivity Crisis
America is mired in a productivity crisis.
Don't Play Favorites for Nuclear Energy
Lawmakers are forcing taxpayers to go nuclear.
A "Made in America" Product Even Free Traders Can Support
President Trump recently announced "Made in America Week," when he emphasized the economic benefits of revitalizing the U.S. manufacturing sector. Many economists push back against such efforts, asserting there are numerous benefits to global trade and economic integration. But there is at least one sector where "Made in America" means a stronger economy, not a weaker one.
Accelerating Generic Drug Approvals Will Save Lives and Dollars
Sitting atop the approval process for prescription medications, Dr. Scott Gottlieb is a little different from some of his more bureaucratic predecessors: He's listening.
100% Pro-Life
In 1992, presidential candidate Bill Clinton argued that abortion should be "safe, legal and rare." By contrast, a March 27, 2017 article in The Washington Times was entitled, "Safe, Legal and Not So Rare," and argued that abortion has instead become "a young woman's rite of passage."
Students Need an Escape from Public School Violence
America's public schools are starting to resemble war zones.
Trump ends Obama-era war on coal
The 'climate changers' came out in full force when the EPA announced earlier this week that it was ending the Obama-era war on coal by scrapping Mr. Obama's Clean Power Plan.
How to Have A Good Day
Everybody needs a good day every now and then!
Sutherland Springs, Church Is Not Safe Anymore
Our hearts go out to the people of Sutherland Springs, Texas. The First Baptist Church of this town and the entire community was ambushed in what resulted as the worst mass shooting in Texas history. Twenty-six people are dead and many others are currently fighting for their lives in intensive care.
FDA Labeling Rules Keep Doctors in the Dark
Should the federal government punish companies for telling the truth?
Free Speech is a Right Guaranteed by the Constitution
America's schools foster intolerance. They've become places where students are taught not to seek out the truth or the thoughts and opinions of others who disagree with them.
Opinion: A chance to nurture the spirit of democracy in Iran
The ruling mullahs of Iran may be able to silence anti-government protestors but they cannot win their hearts and minds. The people want an Iranian Republic, not an Islamic Republic. And you can make book on the fact that the latest unrest that rocked that nation over the New Year's weekend will continue, notwithstanding the brutality of the country's security forces.
Hurting Our Young Americans' Futures
Millions of Americans in states like California, Illinois and Kentucky are already in peril because of the horrendous government mismanagement of teacher's and state worker's retirement money.
Keep Big Government Out of Medicare Drug Pricing Negotiations
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) recently released a report urging Congress to allow federal bureaucrats to negotiate Medicare drug prices directly with pharmaceutical companies. Currently, private insurance companies conduct these negotiations.