Washington Examiner
December 2, 2025
As President Donald Trump declared in recent days, “If we don’t have tariffs, we don’t have national security.” While the globalists attack the president’s agenda, the CEO of Nvidia just declared that “we’re manufacturing the most advanced chips for AI here in the U.S. All of this started with President Trump wanting to re-industrialize the U.S. His tariffs were a pressing agent in making this possible.” The reality is that Trump’s targeted tariffs are strengthening U.S. national and economic security by creating millions of new U.S. manufacturing jobs.
During my time as the 29th White House chief of staff serving Trump, it became clear to me that national security issues are largely ignored and deemed purely economic until there is a crisis. During the final days of the first Trump administration, I saw firsthand how countries large and small, from China to Tunisia, exploited the COVID-19 pandemic to threaten our supply chains. Congress, even after multiple hearings, has failed to enact even one meaningful legislative reform, despite its own reports calling for more inclusive “made in America” supply chains. Fast-forward to today, and Trump’s 50% aluminum tariffs that are critical to protect U.S. national and economic security are being undermined by the deep state in Washington, D.C.
Thanks to anti-Trump bureaucrats and left-wing activists, domestic aluminum fabricators and extruders, who are truly the backbone of our great country, are feeling the pain. The aluminum extruders manufacture the parts for U.S. military hardware and critical infrastructure, in addition to everyday household items such as parts for windows, doors, appliances, and cars and trucks. This vital American industry is in danger of being hollowed out as importers cheat the system by undervaluing aluminum imports and falsely labelling products to avoid paying the president’s targeted aluminum tariff. If nothing changes, tens of thousands of good-paying aluminum extrusion jobs that make up the largest segment of America’s aluminum workforce will be wiped out.
