There is little question that when President Trump holds a rally in Moon Township, Pa., on Saturday night, he will tout the tariffs he imposed on imported steel and aluminum this week. Western Pennsylvania is steel country, after all, so his message should play well there. But it will likely resonate with millions of other Americans, well beyond steel plants. …
Trade taps into America’s identity as a country that makes things. Political discourse surrounding trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership has a tendency to focus heavily on manufacturing, even though TPP also dealt in large ways with intellectual property, environmental regulations and labor standards.
And that means that messages surrounding these tariffs may resonate deeply with some voters. “People — especially when you go to Trump voters — they have this view of manufacturing that’s really emotionally packed,” said Jeremy Rosner, executive vice president at Democratic polling firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner. …
For Trump, with his “Make America Great Again” campaign tagline, championing manufacturing fits in perfectly with his message. “He has an impressively integrated narrative that is very nostalgic,” Rosner said. “The phrase ‘Make America Great Again’ is backwards-looking, It’s evoking a time when a certain kind of people felt on top of the world, and it was kind of a white manufacturing, more rural and suburban population on top of the world.” CONT.
Danielle Kurtzleben, NPR