Wisconsin is playing a leading role in the Great American Comeback taking place under President Donald Trump. Across the state, people are more confident, more prosperous, and more optimistic than they have been in many years.
“Three years ago, we launched the great American comeback. Tonight, I stand before you to share the incredible results,” the president began his third State of the Union address. “Jobs are booming, incomes are soaring, poverty is plummeting, crime is falling, confidence is surging, and our country is thriving and highly respected again! America’s enemies are on the run, America’s fortunes are on the rise, and America’s future is blazing bright.”
By cutting taxes for middle-income Americans, slashing job-killing regulations, and securing genuinely fair trade agreements with our main trading partners, the Trump administration has unleashed a nationwide jobs boom that is generating broad-based prosperity for Americans at every income level.
Boosted by the creation of more than 7 million new jobs over the past three years, the unemployment rates for African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans have all hit the lowest levels ever recorded. The jobless rate for women, who have filled the lion’s share of new jobs in the Trump economy, is near a 70-year low. Overall unemployment is lower than it’s been for half a century, at just 3.5 percent.
The U.S. economy is truly “the best it has ever been” — and by some measures, Wisconsin’s economy is doing even better. Our 3.4 percent unemployment rate, for instance, is even lower than the national unemployment rate, thanks to the tens of thousands of new jobs that have been created in the Badger State since January 2017.
The Wisconsin Department of Revenue anticipates that our economic expansion will continue at least through 2020 and 2021, driven by increases in personal income and job creation in the manufacturing, education, and health services sectors.
One major reason for optimism is the recent approval of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the comprehensive trade deal that President Trump worked out with America’s biggest trading partners to replace the grossly unfair terms dictated by NAFTA. Wisconsin exported $10.5 billion worth of goods and services to our two closest neighbors in 2018, when we were still saddled with the disadvantages imposed on us by NAFTA, and the USMCA will enable us to substantially increase that figure.
In fact, as America’s Dairyland, Wisconsin is better positioned than most states to take advantage of the USMCA, because one of the updated deal’s most significant achievements was eliminating Canada’s import restrictions on American dairy products.
The manufacturing sector is also poised to enjoy continued growth thanks to this administration’s pro-growth policies. The past two administrations sat idly by as 60,000 American factories closed and millions of American jobs were shipped overseas. Over just the first three years of the Trump administration, however, we’ve added 12,000 factories and more than half a million manufacturing jobs. After a worrying decline at the tail end of Barack Obama’s presidency, Wisconsin’s manufacturing output has rebounded splendidly, increasing by about $6 billion since Donald Trump took office.
The recovery of our industrial base will only continue to accelerate as a result of the landmark “Phase One” trade deal with China, which will boost U.S. exports to the world’s second-largest economy by about $200 billion.
By any standard, the United States has grown stronger than ever before under President Trump’s leadership. Wisconsinites should be thrilled that the Badger State has been at the forefront of the Great American Comeback.
Sen. Tom Tiffany represents Wisconsin’s 12th Senate District.
