Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer told Newsmax on Friday that she is confident the Trump administration will close the gap on manufacturing jobs lost during the Biden administration and rebuild factories left abandoned the previous four years.
Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Friday showed that manufacturing jobs increased for the second month in a row, by 1,000 in March after an increase of 8,000 in February. That ended a two-month tailspin at the end of the Biden administration that saw a total of 20,000 manufacturing jobs lost.
"The president has done a wonderful job on being focused on the manufacturing, jobs, transportation as well, and construction," Chavez-DeRemer told guest host David Harris Jr. on "Rob Schmitt Tonight." "We saw those jobs come back over the last two months.
"And really, what we're fighting is almost two decades, and certainly the failed administration previous to this, where manufacturing jobs really were killed. And so, we want to bring those back. That's what the president is focused on."
Chavez-DeRemer, who represented Oregon's 5th Congressional District from 2023 to 2025, said that "we're going to get right on track to rebuilding a lot of these factories in the manufacturing sector."
"We want to repatriate these companies back to the United States," she said. "What the president is doing is asking to protect the American people, have fair trade practices, reciprocal tariffs, and that is going to bring jobs back to America. So, for the American men and women of this country, get ready, because we're going to see the jobs numbers continue to rise."
Chavez-DeRemer announced earlier in the day she will embark on a national listening tour dubbed "America at Work," beginning this weekend in northeastern Pennsylvania, where she will hold meetings and a roundtable discussion with local union leaders and elected officials.
She said her message to Democrats and members of the mainstream media stoking fears about the effects of Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs is, "We're just getting started."
"This is President Trump's vision for the country," she said. "He ran on it. He's keeping the promises that he made to the American people. He is the president of the American worker."
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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