Made in America - Manufacturing, Trade, and the Fight for the Middle Class

Leslie is joined by Scott Paul, President of the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), a partnership established by some of America’s leading manufacturers and the United Steelworkers union. The pair first discusses a new piece that Scott wrote for 'Industry Week' that finally puts to rest one of U.S. manufacturing naysayers’ favorite lines: “Who wants to work in a factory anyway?” Next, they explore what progress has the Trump administration made on all of their attempted trade deals after the White House extended its reciprocal tariff pause to August 1st, with the hope of securing more deals. Third, Scott and Leslie explain why Americans should be pleased about a new 10-year end to 'the de minimis exemption,' a Customs loophole that Chinese e-commerce behemoths like Temu and DHGate had been exploiting. Fourth, Leslie asks Scott about an FTC letter sent on the same day Amazon launched its Prime Day sale this week, which called on the e-commerce giant (and Walmart) to put a stop to false “Made in USA” claims on its website. This comes after Amazon’s marketplace has increasingly become a Wild West of products from third-party vendors as it seeks to emulate SHEIN and Temu.  Finally, both Leslie and Scott applauded Senator Elissa Slotkin for a recent speech she gave outlining her “Economic War Plan."  They also found this particular line from the speech very timely: "As a CIA officer and Pentagon official by training, I believe that the single, greatest security threat to the United States is *not* coming from abroad. It’s the shrinking middle class here at home." Here is where you can find more of Scott and the AAM's work: WEBSITE: AmericanManufacturing.org YouTube Channel: youtube.com/@AmericanMfg (where you can watch episode's of AAM's podcast, "The Manufacturing Report") X: 1. AAM - @KeepItMadeInUSA  2. Scott Paul - @ScottPaulAAM BlueSky: @keepitmadeinusa.bsky.social