The trade war Trump started and lost pushed the U.S. manufacturing industry into a recession, caused job losses and higher costs for U.S. manufacturers.

Trump’s trade policies pushed the manufacturing industry into a recession.

CNN: “US Manufacturing plunges deeper into recession”

CNBC: “U.S. manufacturer growth slowed to the lowest level in almost 10 years in August, the latest sign that the trade war may be exacerbating the economic slowdown.  The U.S. manufacturing PMI (purchasing managers’ index) was 49.9 in August, down from 50.4 in July and below the neutral 50.0 threshold for the first time since September 2009, according to IHS Markit.”

Trump’s tariff war caused job losses and higher costs for U.S. manufacturers.

ABC News: “President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the retaliation by countries he has targeted have resulted in job losses and higher costs for U.S. manufacturers, negatively affecting them overall, a federal study recently found. Trump has made tariffs a central element of his trade policy – placing levies on hundreds of billions of dollars of goods from Asia, Europe and Latin America – and launched a trade war with China that prompted it to respond in kind with tariffs targeting U.S. manufacturers and consumers. Those retaliatory tariffs, coupled with the higher costs, have had a larger detrimental effect than any positive benefits the president’s tariffs have created, according to a Federal Reserve study released last week.”

Even before coronavirus, Trump’s trade policies caused the factory sector shrank as a share of the economy and job growth slowed.

Bloomberg: “Manufacturing is now smallest share of U.S. economy in 72 years.”

New York Times:  “Manufacturing job growth has been declining nationwide. An unexpected surge in manufacturing jobs early in Mr. Trump’s term was never as pronounced in the Midwest as elsewhere in the country. Now, those states are struggling as the boom has faded. State-level data through October shows a steep drop in factory employment in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and other states.”

Trump damaged American manufacturing for leverage in a trade war and failed to help the industry with his failed China deal.

PolitiFact: “Trump administration efforts to boost agricultural purchases were meant to reverse declines provoked by the U.S. tariffs in the first place. ‘Did Trump gain leverage to secure a ‘deal’ with China? Yes, he did. Is that deal any good? It’s doubtful,’ said Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing.”

Washington Post: “Even then, given current prices and reduced plantings of soybeans, it’s hard to see how China could meet the dollar targets set for farm purchases. And China is nowhere close to the targets for purchases of energy products and manufactures.”