America’s Manufacturing Revival Needs a Workforce, The Dominican Republic Can Help

By Albert Piantini

President Trump’s tariffs were designed to bring manufacturing jobs back to America, and to a great extent, they’ve done just that. Companies like Quaker City Castings, in Ohio, reported a 25% increase in orders, as firms began sourcing parts domestically. The goal of reviving American industry is gaining traction.

But there’s a critical missing piece: workers.

The United States currently has nearly half a million unfilled manufacturing jobs. At factories like Quaker City, the positions are there, but few are willing to take them. The work is physically demanding, pay lags the private-sector average, and rigid schedules offer little of the flexibility today’s workforce increasingly demands.

Even when wages go up, as they have by 30% at Quaker City since the pandemic, worker retention remains a major challenge.

What if the solution isn’t just domestic labor? What if part of the answer lies with our Caribbean neighbors?

The Dominican Republic offers a compelling model and potential partnership. Its economy is powered not only by tourism but by a thriving Free Trade Zone (FTZ) manufacturing sector, supported by investment-friendly policies, skilled labor, and a growing infrastructure.

These FTZs have attracted global companies and created thousands of manufacturing jobs with streamlined customs, tax incentives, and robust workforce training.

Where the U.S. struggles to fill roles and scale up production quickly, the Dominican Republic already has a ready-made industrial workforce accustomed to manufacturing demands, and it’s geographically close.

Strengthening economic ties, expanding joint ventures, and strategically integrating Dominican manufacturing capacity into U.S. supply chains could relieve pressure on American factories, while maintaining regional competitiveness.

This wouldn’t be a handoff, it would be a strategic partnership. U.S. firms could leverage the Dominican Republic’s labor advantages, while continuing to invest in domestic production for high-value and technologically advanced components. The Dominican Republic would, in turn, provide a steady flow of work and jobs to its well-trained labor force.

Creating a hybrid model,where labor-intensive processes are nearshored to trusted neighbors like the Dominican Republic, could ease the workforce crunch without undermining American industry. As a trade partner, the Dominican Republic is a significant one, having traded $20.6 billion in 2024.

The Dominican Republic’s economic balance also provides stability for manufacturing investors. While tourism remains its largest revenue source, the country’s diversification into manufacturing and mining, particularly gold and other metals, has fortified its economy.

FTZ jobs contribute directly to regional development and offer a strong alternative to emigration, meaning their workforce stays home, skilled, and employed, fortifying their ability for future generational wealth, as well as providing for our prosperity.

Meanwhile, in U.S. high schools once surrounded by steel mills, students are open to trade careers, but often steer toward better-paying, more flexible jobs in construction or logistics. Assuch, manufacturing remains a hard sell, especially with memories of layoffs still fresh in many communities.

This partnership would create a new, more expansive and inclusive definition of manufacturing, that will incentivize our young people into broadening their view of possibilities or a brighter future.

If the U.S. wants to rebuild its manufacturing strength, it must rethink not just how it makes things, but where. In a globalized economy, regional partnerships offer more than just economic efficiency. They provide resilience, flexibility, and access to labor markets thatcomplement, rather than compete, with American workers.

America doesn’t need to go it alone. The Dominican Republic, already a key trading partner with shared interests and geographic proximity, can be part of the solution to our manufacturing labor shortage.