The world must escape the manufacturing delusion
Governments’ obsession with factories is built on myths—and will be self-defeating
Around the world, politicians are fixated on factories. President Donald Trump wants to bring home everything from steelmaking to drug production, and is putting up tariff barriers to do so. Britain is considering subsidising manufacturers’ energy bills; Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, is offering incentives for electric-vehicle-makers, adding to a long-running industrial-subsidy scheme. Governments from Germany to Indonesia have flirted with inducements for chip- and battery-makers. However, the global manufacturing push will not succeed. In fact, it is likely to do more harm than good.
Explore more
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “The manufacturing delusion”
Leaders
June 14th 2025- The world must escape the manufacturing delusion
- Israel has taken an audacious but terrifying gamble
- When a radical performance artist has command of an army
- How to curb organised crime without shredding civil rights
- In the age of AI, Apple needs to open up
- Rachel Reeves’s big-government rhetoric is a worrying sign for Britain
From the June 14th 2025 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the edition
Scrap the asylum system—and build something better
Rich countries need to separate asylum from labour migration
Britain is cheap, and should learn to love it
Workers and assets are on sale to the rest of the world for bargain-basement prices
America cannot dodge the consequences of rising tariffs for ever
Their economic impact has been delayed but not averted
How A-listers are shaking up the consumer-goods business
Hailey Bieber, Rihanna and Ryan Reynolds are among a new cohort of celebrity entrepreneurs
William Ruto is taking Kenya to a dangerous place
The president’s authoritarian instincts are propelling a spiral of violence
China is building an entire empire on data
It will change the online economy and the evolution of artificial intelligence