Made in America businesses could soon see domestic manufacturing protections, and even a bottom-line boost, in reaction to President Donald Trump’s tariff decisions.
“I think it can help, and what have we got to lose?” Red Land Cotton founder Mark Yeager told FOX Business’ Lydia Hu on Tuesday. “I think the cotton industry is being propped up by government subsidies, and that’s all that’s keeping the cotton business in America.”
“If we have our own textile industry, maybe we can use it and create value… I mean, how can we ship it all across the world back here? And you would think we could be competitive,” he continued.
On Wednesday, President Trump is set to celebrate the country’s “Liberation Day,” when reciprocal tariffs on top trade partners will go into effect.
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“Liberation Day, I call it Liberation Day in America,” Trump said from the White House last week, previewing April 2. “You’ll be seeing tariffs. And I think I’ve been very fair. I have them set. But I think I’ve been very fair to countries that have really abused us economically for many, many decades.”
There will be a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports; 25% tariffs on all imported automobiles into the U.S.; 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico; and a 20% across-the-board tariff on China.
While economists and some political pundits are skeptical over tariffs and their impact on consumer prices, Yeager – who over the last decade has worked to streamline his supply chain – feels tariffs provide further investments into American manufacturing.
“I’ve been growing cotton all my life, and I was trying to find a way to add value to what I was growing. And I have a love for made in America, too, so I’ve been that way all my life,” Yeager said.
“So it just kinda seemed natural that this was the next thing I could do with my cotton.”
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the number of cotton bales milled nationally are down from 11.2 million in 1941 to 1.7 million in 2024. U.S. jobs in the textile industry are also down more than 80% since 1990.
Trump’s 11th week in office follows a break-neck pace of executive orders and actions since Jan. 20. Trump has signed at least 108 executive orders alone, which surpasses the number of executive orders signed by his predecessors in their respective first years in office since the Carter administration.
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Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report.
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