National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett is trying to convince Americans that the recent bleak trade deficit report released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis isn’t a big deal, telling CNBC that “people haven’t turned the machines on yet.”
The report shows that President Donald Trump’s tariffs have failed to boost exports of American-made goods—in fact, the opposite has happened.
And while Americans wait for these magical machines to be turned on, it looks like the United States will continue to bleed manufacturing jobs thanks to Trump’s idiotic tariffs.
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HASSETT: We have a list of the groundbreakings. It’s really quite striking
FABER: Manufacturing job numbers are actually down
HASSETT: That’s in part because people haven’t turned the machines on yet
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-01-30T15:31:46.261Z
Hassett tried to boast about Eli Lilly’s much-touted “onshoring” investment in Virginia, pointing to it as a sign of major progress. But that project amounts to nothing more than a promise of 650 high-paying permanent jobs and up to 1,800 temporary construction jobs.
That’s a far cry from the 70,000 manufacturing jobs Americans have lost since April 2025.