The Politics of Reshoring

• In Event: Analyzing the Micro-foundations of the Anti-Trade Backlash

Abstract

Reshoring occurs when multinational firms return foreign production to their home market. We interpret resurgent protectionism under the Trump administration as primarily a demand for reshoring, and explain the political cleavages that are likely to arise in the fight over onshoring production back to the US. In response to renewed protectionism, corporate America has launched an extraordinary campaign of resistance. We document their efforts to fight steel tariffs, withdrawal from NAFTA, and tariffs on Chinese imports; and we explain their attitudes focusing on the development of global networks of sourcing and production. We therefore describe and empirically illustrate the politics of reshoring, and highlight that scholars of trade politics should not neglect opposition to the Trump trade agenda arising from globally integrated firms. Global order in the area of trade hangs in the balance in an intensifying fight between corporate globalism and populist nationalism.

Authors

• Jieun Lee, University of Michigan

• Iain Osgood, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor