Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick says those worried about job insecurity due to President Donald Trump’s tariffs can rest assured that they — and generations of their children — will find work in factories.
Trump has pushed his tariff policy as a means to reinvigorate manufacturing in the United States, which he says could, among other things, create more jobs.
Nowadays, however, manufacturers often rely on automation to build their products. Many US companies, including automakers, plan to introduce humanoid robots to their factory floors.
In 2020, Hyundai acquired robot maker Boston Dynamics for $1.1 billion. Boston Dynamics and Hyundai announced an additional $21 billion partnership this month, which includes the purchase of tens of thousands of robots. Hyundai uses Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot dogs in factories and plans to deploy its Atlas humanoid robots in the future.
Ford has also purchased Digit robots, the humanoid robot made by Agility Robotics. And Amazon has tested Digit in its fulfillment centers.
One automation company, Formic, told Business Insider earlier this month that its customers increased their overall robot usage by 17% between January and February, likely to ramp up production ahead of the tariffs.
So, what would these near-future human workers be doing in factories? Lutnick said in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday that the United States should train people to be technicians for these automated machines.
“It’s time to train people not to do the jobs of the past, but to do the great jobs of the future,” Lutnick said. “You know, this is the new model, where you work in these kind of plants for the rest of your life, and your kids work here, and your grandkids work here.”
In a separate CNBC interview on April 3, Lutnick said US factories are “going to see the greatest surge in training for what we call tradecraft — teaching people how to be robotics, mechanics, engineers, and electricians for high-tech factories.”
Lutnick reiterated this idea on Tuesday, saying that most auto parts plants are already “highly automated” and the thousands of people who work in them are “trained to take care of those robotic arms.”
When Lutnick was asked if robots would be taking most of the jobs in the scenario he described, he replied that “all these automated arms and stuff” still need human operators to fix them.
“They all need a technician to fix them. All of these things, this is trade craft. This is high school educated, great jobs that start in the 80s and 90,000s,” Lutnick said.
“It is not like how they sort of joke online, you know, Americans working the sewing machine,” he added.
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