A Foreign Policy that Answers to Main Street, Not Davos

President Trump’s reindustrialization policies center national security on the U.S. worker and the sovereign protection of the American workforce and industry.

True strength, as Theodore Roosevelt understood, comes not from expensive and fragile weapons systems, but from industrial depth: a resilient resource base, flexible supply chains, a skilled workforce. This requires a thriving industrial commons that drives innovation. Security, alliances, and deterrence depend on these foundations.

Last July, Counselor of the U.S. Department of State Michael Needham joined senior Administration officials at the Reindustrialize Summit in Detroit, Michigan, a gathering dedicated to ushering in a “techno-industrial renaissance” in the United States. In his remarks, Needham emphasized the role of economic nationalism in shaping America’s global engagement, advocating for a foreign policy that puts national economic interests first. “A peaceful and prosperous future will not come from factories in China, but from those here in our hemisphere,” he said. “America, our friends, and our allies must refocus on our own production and our own people. This is no retreat from the world—it is the only way to preserve America’s rightful place in it.”

The Trump Administration’s reindustrialization policies are designed to do just that: incentivize domestic manufacturing, reshore critical supply chains, and prepare a defense industry capable of meeting future global threats. Central to this strategy is protecting the U.S. workforce and empowering the American worker, recognizing that U.S. strength rests not only on diplomatic and military power, but also on an industrious, agile, and highly productive workforce. Building a workforce admired by foreign investors and envied by adversaries requires a renewed whole-of-government commitment to the dignity of work, family-supporting jobs, and investments in the U.S. worker.

The President’s National Security Strategy (NSS) of the United States offers an enlightened national security response to foreign threats and America’s deepening economic and social crises, from the decline in economic mobility and life expectancy to the surge in deaths of despair (i.e., suicides, drug overdoses, and alcoholism). This policy echoes Vice President JD Vance’s call for labor-respecting international partners to build goods together with the United States. “We want to build relationships with our foreign partners who respect their workers, who do not suppress their wages to boost exports but respect the value of their labor,” VP Vance said in remarks on April 22, 2025, in India.

The NSS redirects the State Department’s international labor policy, anchoring it in the interests of the American worker and principles of “Common Good Capitalism.” Over five years ago, then-Senator Marco Rubio warned in a speech at Catholic University that young Americans risk becoming the first generation worse off than their parents - burdened by debt, limited job prospects, and delayed milestones like homeownership and family life.

Rubio called on business and government to build a free enterprise system that serves both workers and the economy, arguing that too many Americans feel the system is rigged against them. “The ultimate goal of any society,” he said, “should be to make men better by providing regular people the opportunity to obtain the dignity that comes with hard work, with ownership, and with raising a family.” He cautioned against globalization, which sacrifices American workers for cheaper labor abroad or through unauthorized labor at home.

Globalization, open borders to illegal migration, and blind faith in an unfair global trade order have fueled a crisis among American workers. The assumptions that once underpinned U.S. foreign policy are increasingly outdated, flawed, and disconnected from core national interests and the American people the federal government serves. Years of prioritizing nation-building abroad came at the cost of rebuilding at home.

Furthermore, illegal migration undermines the integrity of the American workforce. Hiring unauthorized labor suppresses wages, weakens workplace safety standards, and circumvents payroll taxes that fund critical programs meant for U.S. citizens, like Medicaid, unemployment benefits, and disability support. Without a serious shift in investment in America’s students, young workers, and our future potential, the American Dream - already weakened by decades of blind faith in globalization and our addiction to cheap labor - faces extinction.

Thanks to the President’s American workers first priorities, American workers and working-class families - not foreign institutions - are at the center of the federal government’s diplomatic engagement. We’re reversing decades of decline driven by outsourcing, offshoring, and dependence on illegal labor. Instead, we’re restoring dignity to American workers, rebuilding our manufacturing base, and reinvesting in the communities that built this nation. This is an affirmative agenda for American workers that aims to level the playing field, attract foreign investment to U.S. communities, and strengthen our industrial capacity through real skills, training, and workforce development.

The U.S. national security establishment is committed to advocating for the interests of the American worker abroad and advancing the Administration’s manufacturing renaissance to rebuild U.S.-based manufacturing operations. U.S. implementing agencies, from the Department of State to the Department of Labor, are fighting for a level playing field for all American workers. We have prioritized critical national security sectors, such as critical minerals, aerospace and drones, advanced technology manufacturing, shipbuilding, pharmaceuticals, and artificial intelligence (AI). And in cases where foreign abuses distort the market, we identify, expose, and hold accountable malign actors, including the People’s Republic of China. This includes advancing the President’s national emergency declaration to increase our competitive edge, protect our sovereignty, and strengthen our national and economic security.

Foreign governments and companies that undercut fair labor standards harm American workers and weaken U.S. commercial interests. As U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer recently emphasized, the Administration is insisting on labor fairness from international partners because exploitative working conditions depress global wages, compromise safety, and erode America’s industrial base.

Forced and child labor are not only immoral: they distort markets and create unfair competition. Protecting workers’ rights at home and abroad is essential to fair global competition and the success of U.S. workers and industry. The Administration is ending the failed model that sold out middle America to foreign markets and cheap, illegal migrant labor.

To better inform policymakers in Washington and diplomats overseas, I traveled to America’s heartland last summer in my official capacity to hear directly from U.S. workers, industry leaders, and state and local officials about the challenges and opportunities of reindustrialization. The presence of a U.S. diplomat in the heartland sent a powerful signal: the Department of State was listening to working Americans. That message stood in sharp contrast to the insular and condescending culture that too often defined the agency I have served for over 16 years.

My purpose was simple: to listen, learn, and bring those insights back to help shape a foreign policy that puts American workers first. Americans no longer separate foreign policy from kitchen-table issues. Neither does the President Trump. Under his leadership, the United States has a foreign policy that answers to Main Street, not Davos.

In conclusion, America’s national security depends not only on diplomacy and defense, but on the industrial strength that underwrites both. A robust industrial base and a highly skilled workforce are indispensable to advancing U.S. national interests and providing a durable, credible security deterrent. By empowering American workers, we ensure industry thrives; supporting both security and long-term prosperity. The national security establishment, including the State Department, plays a vital role in this effort, showing U.S. workers that U.S. diplomats have their backs.

Scott Winton is a senior labor advisor at the U.S. Department of State. He is a first-generation college graduate from Branson, Missouri. He also chairs the Working Group on Recruitment of the Ben Franklin Fellowship, an association of active and retired foreign affairs professionals committed to a national interest-based foreign policy and meritocratic personnel practices. The views expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect U.S. government policy.