Nevertheless, manufacturers see cause for optimism. The U.S. economy has added some 41,000 manufacturing jobs since February, and large firms such as GM and Hyundai have announced new investments in U.S. factories--often with the White House's encouragement. Thanks in part to regulatory changes and proposed tax cuts, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) says 93% of member companies it surveyed have a positive outlook on the economy--a 20-year high. "What manufacturers see is an agenda from the federal level that is focused on growth," says Jay Timmons, NAM's president and CEO. Many economists are far more skeptical. They say the nature of manufacturing work has fundamentally changed and they don't believe tax cuts and protectionism can deliver a Rust Belt revival. "Those are not the policy solutions of the future," says John Van Reenen, a professor of applied economics at MIT. Pointing to the U.S. trade wars of the 1930s that worsened the Great Depression, he says, "Those are the policy failures of the past."

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