Vice President Mike Pence touts Trump's economic accomplishments during Phoenix stop

Taking what amounted to a victory lap for the current state of the U.S. economy, Vice President Mike Pence told national manufacturers in Phoenix on Tuesday the prosperity is due to "less government, less taxes and less regulation."

Speaking to the National Association of Manufacturers, Pence called their industry the "backbone of America," and said the Trump administration's tax cuts that were heavily tilted to corporations helped spur greater manufacturing growth than seen under former President Barack Obama.

"America's manufacturers have no greater champion than President Donald Trump," Pence told the audience of about 250 at the Phoenician resort. "This is a president who understands that America grows when America builds."

Pence took extended swipes at the national Democratic agenda, which amounted to socialism in his view. He said ideas such as Medicare for all and the Green New Deal would be pricey promises that would leave more people comfortable in poverty.

Later, Pence toured a Phoenix-area warehouse used by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to see firsthand the drugs and weapons seized as part of the drug trade that forms part of the national emergency Trump has declared along the Mexican border.

Pence urged Arizona's senators not to oppose the emergency measure, which Trump plans to use to juggle part of the federal budget to finance his long-sought border wall.

Pence urged business owners to have more conversations with their employees and others in their communities about issues of the day, including supporting Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Pence called for swift passage of the revised trade agreement with Canada and Mexico and the need for an updated trade pact with China as part of the continued emphasis on improving business conditions in America.

Pence's 34-minute speech highlighted manufacturing, one of the brightest spots in the national economy.

Pence said the 2017 tax cuts helped spur growth across the country, and pointed to a Maryland-based door manufacturer that provided its workers with two bonuses and a pay raise since that legislation went into effect.

In a meeting with Gov. Doug Ducey, Linda McMahon, who heads the Small Business Administration, and members of the manufacturers association executive council, Pence listened to the business agenda.

Ducey told Pence that the national economy is helping what he characterized as a booming economy in Arizona.

Pence's stop in Phoenix came as manufacturers continue to tell the National Association of Manufacturers that they are optimistic about their companies over the past two years, though they remain wary about the ability to attract and keep talented workers and about the nation's aging infrastructure.

Manufacturing has long been a policy focus for Trump and the administration.

Shortly after his election in 2016, Trump took personal credit for saving about 700 jobs at the Carrier furnace factory in Indiana, where Pence was the governor at the time.

Trump claimed he kept the plant open and preserved jobs the company was set to move to Mexico. In exchange for keeping its factory open, the company was eligible for $7 million in tax credits.

The plant is still operating and serves as an example cited by Trump — and his critics — of what it takes to preserve American manufacturing. 

Another Rust Belt intervention, the Foxconn deal in Wisconsin, hasn't worked out the way anyone had hoped. The Chinese technology manufacturer was in line for $4.5 billion in incentives to build a factory in Wisconsin that would bring 13,000 jobs.

Trump has remained personally involved to keep the deal from falling apart.

Growth in manufacturing and overall workforce  

Overall, manufacturing employment in the U.S. stands at 12.8 million, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's the highest level since the onset of the Great Recession and up 3.5 percent since Trump took office.

By comparison, manufacturing employment grew just 0.5 percent in the final 24 months of former President Barack Obama's administration.

The overall workforce has grown 3.2 percent since Trump took office 24 months ago. That's easily better than the 1.9 percent in job losses during the first two years under Obama, when the nation was mired in the downturn that began in December 2007.

In Obama's final 24 months, employment grew 3.4 percent.

While Trump has touted his manufacturing victories, his skirmishes over trade policy with China, Mexico and the European Union have contributed to a climate of uncertainty in manufacturing circles.

In October, IHS Markit, a London-based consulting firm, conducted a survey of U.S. manufacturers that found they expect Trump's tariffs to raise prices. The same group reported they expected that to mean higher U.S. manufacturing employment and more business investment done sooner than previously planned.

It appears Trump is finalizing a truce with Beijing over trade and tariffs, according to news accounts of negotiations with China.

Reach the reporter Ronald J. Hansen at ronald.hansen@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4493. Follow him on Twitter, @ronaldjhansen.

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