Donald Trump’s pledge to unleash a “golden age” for US manufacturing is sputtering as corporate commitments to build factories fail to translate into construction.
US private spending on manufacturing construction fell in April to $15.2bn, down about 16 per cent since the president’s second term began, while factory employment has fallen by 77,000 jobs over the same period, according to official data.
The decline in spending on building plants comes despite 84 companies announcing more than $900bn in investments to expand US manufacturing since Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, according to FT calculations