The Data Shows Trumpnomics Rebuilding Our Industrial Base

Record-High Exports with Productive Capital Goods Purchases

Team,

This is my new piece on what U.S. trade data says about President Trump’s reindustrialization.

You can also read it HERE in RealClearMarkets.

In March, exports of goods and services hit $320.9 billion, the highest level ever recorded. Goods exports alone reached $213.5 billion, also an all-time high.

And then there is the most important number in the whole report: capital goods.

Capital goods excluding automobiles now account for roughly 40% of all U.S. goods imports in the first quarter — the highest share on record. These are not cheap trinkets stacked on Walmart shelves. These are machines, tools, components, industrial equipment, electrical systems, and production inputs — the bones and sinews of a manufacturing comeback.

This is how reindustrialization begins. Trumpnomics is rebuilding the industrial base the globalists sold off. One factory floor, one export order, one capital investment, and one hard-nosed trade enforcement action at a time.

I look forward to your comments. Please share!

Peter

What the U.S. Trade Data Says About Trump’s Reindustrialization

By Peter Navarro

May 05, 2026

For decades, Washington measured economic success by how much America could consume, borrow, import, and outsource. Wall Street got cheap goods. Multinationals got cheap labor. China got our factories. American workers got pink slips, hollowed-out towns, and lectures from economists who never missed a paycheck.

President Trump is reversing that model. As the latest trade data indicates, he is replacing the economy of managed decline with an economy of production, investment, energy dominance, and industrial strength.

In March, exports of goods and services hit $320.9 billion, the highest level ever recorded. Goods exports alone reached $213.5 billion, also an all-time high.

Energy tells the same story. The U.S. posted a $9.4 billion petroleum surplus in March — the largest monthly petroleum surplus in American history.

That is not just an economic statistic. It is geopolitical leverage. Every additional barrel, molecule, and refined product America sells abroad reduces dependence on hostile regimes, strengthens our allies, and puts cash in the pockets of American workers instead of petro-dictators.

Then there is the most important number in the whole report: capital goods.

Capital goods excluding automobiles now account for roughly 40% of all U.S. goods imports in the first quarter — the highest share on record.

The usual suspects will try to spin imports as weakness. But these are not cheap trinkets stacked on Walmart shelves. These are machines, tools, components, industrial equipment, electrical systems, and production inputs — the bones and sinews of a manufacturing comeback.

This is how reindustrialization begins. Not with academic white papers. Not with Davos slogans. Not with climate-bank giveaways to politically connected firms. It begins when private capital sees the signal from Washington and starts putting real money behind real production.

That signal is now clear. Deregulation is back. Tax incentives for investment are back. Tariffs are defending American producers. Enforcement is tightening against cheaters, smugglers, and transshippers. Energy dominance is returning. The government is no longer at war with the very people who build, drill, weld, refine, machine, fabricate, and manufacture.

The country-by-country numbers reinforce the point. The improvement with the European Union alone is more than $80 billion. Switzerland improves by nearly $70 billion. China improves by more than $37 billion. The United Kingdom, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore, India, South Africa, Japan, Brazil, and Mexico likewise all show improvement since Liberation Day.

That is why tariffs matter. That is why enforcement matters. That is why domestic investment matters. And that is why the March trade numbers matter.

The Biden-Harris model was borrow, regulate, import, subsidize, and surrender. The Trump model is produce, invest, export, enforce, and win.

The March trade report shows that model taking hold. Trumpnomics is rebuilding the industrial base the globalists sold off, one factory floor, one export order, one capital investment, and one hard-nosed trade enforcement action at a time.