USA TODAY International Edition

We’re seeing strong results

- Peter Navarro Peter Navarro is director of the White House National Trade Council.

The cynics criticizin­g “Made in America” show just how out of touch they are with the challenges confrontin­g American workers and manufactur­ers.

Since 2000, the year before China entered the World Trade Organizati­on, the United States has lost more than 60,000 factories — not jobs, entire factories.

President Trump has been hard at work to save our jobs and revive manufactur­ing.

He signed an executive order targeting the abusive use of waivers and exceptions to “Buy American” laws, which are meant to prioritize U. S. government spending on American companies, and we are already seeing strong results.

He signed an executive order promoting more flexible apprentice­ships to fully equip our workers for the jobs of the future. Around the country, companies are responding by dramatical­ly boosting their workforce training initiative­s.

President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the disastrous Paris climate accord will save the U. S. economy an estimated 6.5 million industrial­sector jobs, and his regulatory rollbacks have already saved more than $ 60 billion in unnecessar­y costs for American companies.

He has unleashed America’s energy potential — a great boon for American manufactur­ers and consumers. And employment in the coal industry is up, contrary to the cynics’ forecast.

He has empowered the Department of Homeland Security to enforce our laws to put the needs of American workers first. We are finally on a path to collect the import duties we are owed, and we are working to ensure that counterfei­ters and pirates cannot smuggle their goods into our markets.

Finally, President Trump has withdrawn from the jobkilling Trans- Pacific Partnershi­p and instructed the U. S. trade representa­tive to improve our trade deals with the NAFTA region and South Korea. Our trading partners are on notice that the president will approve deals only if they are good for American workers.

This is “Made in America Week,” and the president’s actions have already shown that this will be truly a Made in America presidency.

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