As we celebrate Labor Day, our nation is discovering anew the value of making and building things, from cars to semiconductor chips to steel, and to the factories where products are made.

The allure of manufacturing jobs is as strong as ever. Many even say it helped win an election. And most agree that tariff policy, whether they think it’s right or wrong, is likely to bring at least some manufacturing back to America.

The cause is laudable. After all, making things in our country is vital for a strong economy and national security.

Over the last five decades, de-industrialization has decimated our nation’s manufacturing base, erasing well-paid jobs in communities and leaving millions of families in a downward spiral of economic despair. From 1939 to 1979 manufacturing roared in the U.S., still accounting for 22 percent of non-farm employment by the end of the seventies. By 2019, that percentage had plummeted to 9 percent, and dropped again by 2024 to 8 percent.

Entire communities have lost their economic foundations, leading to the labeling of a swath of our........

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