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Mark Magnier

At Zion Foodtrucks in the US state of Colorado, American-made steel and aluminium are combined with globally sourced stoves, refrigerators, vents and titanium piping to transform everyday vehicles into mobile restaurants.
But instead of benefiting from Donald Trump’s push to revive US manufacturing, the company says it has been squeezed by higher costs and tougher competition.
Since taking office, the US president’s import taxes on steel and aluminium have hit 50 per cent tied to his “beautiful” tariffs; truck delivery prices have jumped US$1,000 on higher fuel prices caused by the Iran war he launched in February; and Mexican manufacturers with lower labour costs and less expensive Chinese steel are gobbling up market share.
“Our company business has definitely come down because of the war and the tariff situation,” said company owner Appu Jacob Varghese.
“Competitors have actually closed their doors. So if that was the objective, to expand American manufacturing, I don’t know if that has worked out.”
Trump re-entered office promising a blue-collar renaissance. But 18 months into his second term, the evidence is mixed, say executives, economists and logistics experts, as policy churn, market instability and structural weakness undercut US competitiveness, discourage investment and frustrate supply-chain reform.

“His Liberation Day policies were implemented on April 2 of 2025 and that’s 15 months ago” said Robert Lawrence, international trade and investment professor with Harvard University.
“We might expect to see some green shoots, and we might expect to see signs of a reversal in manufacturing. Output in manufacturing, and productivity in manufacturing, and all of those are disappointing.”
Trump’s factory revival faces reality check
Spending on factory construction fell 20 per cent and factory jobs declined by 80,000 between January 2025 and mid-2026, according to US government data; and manufacturing as a share of GDP narrowed from 9.8 per cent in 2024 to 9.4 per cent in 2025.
Trump has repeatedly discounted inconvenient data as “deep-state” lies, arguing that his tariff and “America first” policies have spurred a manufacturing boom that is bringing factory jobs “roaring back”.
Some US$17 trillion in new investments landed during his first eight months, he claimed, including US$600 billion from Apple, US$250 billion from Micron and US$30 billion from Broadcom. A separate White House investment tracker put the figure at US$10.6 trillion.
Critics, however, say his numbers do not compute.
“Donald Trump is living in a fantasy world,” said Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.
“If there is US$17 trillion somewhere, the government doesn’t know about it,” the California lawmaker added. “He’s either a liar, or he’s somehow stashed away money in some magical way.”
A number of sectors have seen robust activity, including AI data centres and defence contractors profiting from the war.
But many involve relatively few blue-collar jobs. Others, facing White House political pressure, have found ways to look cooperative without making commitments that could hurt their economic interests.

“I don’t think threats work,” said Amrita Bhasin, a manufacturing economist and chief executive at California-based Sotira, which tracks and resells excess factory inventory.
“It’s been really difficult for brands to bring manufacturing back to the US … Literally, you can’t manufacture half the items here.”
The fact that Trump is loose with his facts and mercurial with his policies is hardly news. But the potential cost is high, analysts said, at a time when the US is trying to counter Beijing’s growing economic leverage and well-reasoned, multi-year development strategy.
Instead, the US finds itself squandering resources on an unpopular war with a politically divided and financially stressed workforce, led by a reactive president battling record low polling numbers.
“China has a plan. They tell us what it is every five years. They tell us what the top 10 priorities are, and then they execute on it,” said Jeffrey Moon, founder of consultancy China Moon Strategies, formerly with the National Security Council.
“What is Trump’s economic priority? The opportunity cost really is America’s future.”
How companies are adapting to US policies
Amid often searing political pressure, companies have sought ways to avoid Trump’s ire, analysts said, many employing tactics honed during his first term.
These include repackaging long-standing investments, including some launched under former president Joe Biden, into eye-catching headlines; and signing non-binding “letters of intent”.
Others include front-loading imports to avoid empty shelves that invite political scrutiny; crafting deals premised on easily unwound tax breaks; and announcing multi-year timelines that provide flexibility or outlast the administration.

In 2016, air conditioner-maker Carrier promised to keep 1,100 jobs in Indiana only to quietly lay off more than 450, shift production to Mexico and use the tax breaks to automate.
The next year, Foxconn announced a US$10 billion liquid crystal display line in Wisconsin, promising 13,000 high-paying jobs that Trump called “the eighth wonder of the world”.
After Joe Biden was elected, the Taiwanese maker of Apple products cut its projected investment by 93 per cent after hiring just 1,450 workers and walked away from a huge, unused industrial park.
Why bringing production back is so difficult
Companies juggling global supply chains cite structural impediments and contradictory policies.
Despite his investment push, Trump’s distrust of clean energy and electric vehicles saw 38 major US clean-energy projects cancelled in 2025, totalling US$19.8 billion, according to labour-environmental partnership BlueGreen Alliance.
“Policies have been incredibly inconsistent,” said Lawrence, also a senior fellow with the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “And Trump just keeps changing his mind.”
Other frustrations, companies say, include a shortage of the manufacturing hubs, supplier networks and government incentives that China is adept at providing.
And the administration’s aggressive deportation policies have undercut hiring in construction, manufacturing and other sectors, as skilled craftsmen age out and AI data centres push up capital and electricity costs.
“It doesn’t make financial and logistical sense,” said Bhasin, who said some competitors ship goods to Dubai and back to dodge high US factory costs.
“Even if President Trump had the money to bring this back to the US, it would take years until the average manufacturer would even be able to produce in the US.”

Bringing manufacturing back to the US is far more complex than just comparing labour costs and tariffs, including supply chain concentration, interest rates and geopolitical risk.
“The calculation has become much more nuanced,” said Anthony Raphael Escoboza, managing member with Esco Global Strategies, which advises companies on reshoring factory production.
“Relocating production to the US is one path, but many companies are also evaluating allied and nearshore manufacturing locations.”
Supporters of Trump’s vision counter that major changes take time, even as companies in the domestic steel, fossil fuel, semiconductor and defence industries cite benefits from Trump’s “America first” policies.
Pure Choice Apparel, a small clothing manufacturer in Arizona, has seen more buyer interest since Trump’s higher tariffs narrowed importers’ advantage.
“Customers who were previously sourcing blank garments or finished goods overseas – especially from China – are asking us more often about domestic alternatives, and some are converting,” said company founder Shane Kelley.
“I won’t overstate it. Domestic production still carries real cost premiums. And not every customer can absorb them. But for the first time in years, ‘made in the USA’ is a genuine competitive point rather than just a marketing line.”
Pennsylvania-based defence contractor Intervala, meanwhile, recently reported a US$6 million advanced manufacturing investment.
But some question the entire goal of revitalising US manufacturing – rather than services and intellectual property where it has a natural advantage.
Too often, they add, arguments are shaped by rust-belt politics and nostalgia for an idealised America attractive to octogenarians like Trump and Biden.
“Both of them are kind of revivalists with restoration theories of American prosperity moulded by their experiences,” said Lawrence. “We don’t need a ministry of industry. We need a ministry of services.”
China still holds the structural advantage
For many, China is the model and competitive obsession – even as Beijing tries to foster its service and consumer economy.
“China has its own structural pressures,” said Selina Wei, a technical specialist at Guangdong-based Hongwang Holding Group.
“Competition is intense in sectors where capacity has grown faster than demand, and margins are tighter.”
Voracious price competition, mounting global trade tension, slowing growth and structural bottlenecks made worse by “zombie” state-owned factories are other problems vexing Beijing.

“Huge costs are incurred by the current set of policies,” said Loren Brandt, international trade and economics professor at the University of Toronto. “There are no easy solutions.”
For Zion’s Varghese, trained as a mechanical engineer, the food truck idea came when he saw a greasy, burned-out taco truck.
He had worked as a volunteer firefighter, and figured he could do better. In 2023, he acquired a bankrupt company that he turned around and named after his eldest daughter.
Modern food trucks were pioneered by Mexican vendors serving migrant workers at remote worksites, sometimes dubbed “roach coaches”, outfitted with makeshift kitchen equipment that went flying when vehicles stopped short.
As Mexico has continued to dominate low-end manufacturing, Zion and others have moved upscale.
His custom-made trucks, which take about six weeks to manufacture, dish out everything from Texas barbecue to hibachi to wood-fired pizza costing up to US$200,000, with proper warranties – and no flying griddles.
Rough industry estimates suggest the market was around US$4.5 billion with some 200 specialised manufacturers in 2024, declining to 160 makers collecting roughly the same revenue by 2026.
Once customers place their order, Varghese acquires used FedEx or other vehicles, mostly from a New Jersey dealer, delivered to his workshop outside Denver.
Skilled employees then set to work installing plumbing, gas lines, steel and aluminium counters, stoves, refrigerators, propane tanks, windows and even toilets.
Some jobs, especially for school districts, require complete made in America production.
“It’s such a challenge,” said Varghese. “Even the things you think are made in the US and sold by US companies are not made in the US.”
Having weathered two earlier failed ventures, the serial entrepreneur expects more promise and pitfalls ahead.
“It’s not like you see a slowing of demand. They want food trucks,” he said. “But the challenge will be there. I don’t see prices coming down, just increasing. The war, it affects things.”


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Illustration: Henry Wong

Appu Jacob Varghese, owner of Colorado-based Zion Foodtrucks, stands in front of one of the company’s custom-built mobile restaurants. Photo: Handout

Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, has pushed back at US President Donald Trump’s claims of a manufacturing boom. Photo: AP

Trump talks with workers during a tour of US Steel’s Mon Valley Works-Irvin plant in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, in May 2025. Photo: AP

A custom-built Hibachi King food truck made by Zion Foodtrucks. The company’s vehicles can cost up to US$200,000 and take about six weeks to build. Photo: Handout

A Wurst gourmet hot dog truck built by Zion Foodtrucks. The company transforms used delivery vehicles into made-to-order mobile restaurants. Photo: Handout

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Tariffs alone have yet to overcome China’s competitive edge as policy uncertainty and structural hurdles weigh on US industry


Tariffs alone have yet to overcome China’s competitive edge as policy uncertainty and structural hurdles weigh on US industry.


Trump’s manufacturing push meets reality as costs rise and investment stalls

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Tariffs alone have yet to overcome China’s competitive edge as policy uncertainty and structural hurdles weigh on US industry

Tariffs alone have yet to overcome China’s competitive edge as policy uncertainty and structural hurdles weigh on US industry