American Thought Leaders How Tariffs Once Paid America’s Bills–And Why They Could Again | John Gardner
Oct 12, 2025
Join John Gardner, author and manufacturing entrepreneur, as he dives deep into the complexities of America’s trade policies. He argues that free trade has neglected national security and explores the moral dilemmas of offshoring jobs. Gardner advocates for tariffs as a means to revitalize U.S. manufacturing and introduces the idea of an 'external revenue service' to rethink trade policies. He also emphasizes the importance of niche innovation, skilled labor, and reconnecting engineers with shop floor realities to restore America’s industrial prowess.
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Free Trade Ignored Geopolitics
- Unilateral free trade ignored great-power competition and national-security risks.
- That mistake funded a foreign industrial superpower and weakened America's defense-industrial base.
Manufacturing Losses Hurt Cities And Culture
- Massive offshoring hollowed out American cities and cultures tied to manufacturing.
- The social and moral cost of chasing cheap labor abroad deserves public reckoning.
Apple Trained China’s Workforce, Not Ours
- Gardner recounts Apple's massive yearly investment in China and how it trained millions of tool-and-die workers there.
- He criticizes Apple for not similarly investing in training American workers in inner cities.
