A recent poll found that 63 percent of Americans want the government to buy goods made in the United States—even at a significantly higher cost.
Twenty-six percent would only pay 5 percent more, while 21 percent said they would, at most, be willing to pay an extra 10 percent.
The poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, comes a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw medical equipment shortages that exposed the drawbacks of U.S. dependency on foreign supply chains.
Former President Donald Trump pursued vigorous policies that would reshore supply chains and bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States, as well as reduce U.S. dependency on imported goods, including by signing an executive order last year to boost U.S. production of critical minerals.
The order also calls for sectoral reviews to be completed within one year for defense, information communications technology, energy, transportation, food production, and public health and biological preparedness.
The move also aims to boost manufacturing jobs by strengthening U.S. supply chains for critical goods—advanced batteries, pharmaceuticals, critical minerals, and semiconductors.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are 12.2 million manufacturing jobs in the United States, down from 17 million in 2000.