The US has lost factory jobs amid promises of a tariff-led renaissance

Workers at Whirlpool, the US’s largest appliance manufacturer and a champion of Donald Trump’s tariff policies, are criticizing the company for cutting jobs at an Iowa plant while bolstering production in Mexico.

The job cuts at Whirlpool come as the company has continued to support the Trump administration’s trade policies and claimed they will help bolster US manufacturing. Trump’s trade policies appear to have done little for US manufacturing so far. The US has lost 83,000 factory jobs since Trump took office in January 2025.

Effective 9 March, some 341 jobs are being cut at the Whirlpool plant in Amana, Iowa. The cuts come less than a year after 250 jobs were cut in July 2025. According to International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union (IAM) officials, the company has informed them that more cuts are on the way later this year. The plant produces refrigerators under the Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Maytag, and Amana brands.