AP Photo/Alex Brandon

President Donald Trump has increasingly claimed there has been a renaissance for American factories ahead of his re-election bid.

But several traditionally blue-collar industries have fallen into precarious territory under his administration, with thousands of job losses across the nation.

Manufacturing cut 12,000 jobs in December. Mining shed 8,000. About 10,000 jobs were lost in transportation and warehousing.

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President Donald Trump has increasingly claimed there has been a renaissance for American factories ahead of his re-election bid, capitalizing on the populist surge that helped send him to the White House in 2016.

But several traditionally blue-collar industries have fallen into precarious territory under his administration, with thousands of job losses across the nation.

"We are restoring our nation's manufacturing might, even though predictions were, as you all know, that this could never, ever be done," Trump said at his third State of the Union address on Tuesday, also declaring that the nation has entered a "blue-collar boom."

"Companies are not leaving; they are coming back to the USA," Trump said, drawing loud applause. "The fact is that everybody wants to be where the action is, and the United States of America is indeed the place where the action is."

Since the last time Trump was on the campaign trail, he has argued his signature "America First" approach would rebuild sectors he said have been undermined by unfair trade policies and government regulation.

In the first two years of the Trump administration, manufacturing picked up as a tax cut package championed by Trump and Republicans helped to lift business confidence. But tariffs that were designed to aid factories soon began to exacerbate a broader slump in the sector, helping to push it into a technical recession last year.

"Trump has not brought these jobs back, nor will his present policies change the status quo," the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal-leaning think tank, said in a statement.

The manufacturing sector added 46,000 net jobs last year, the second-worst growth rate of the expansion. For comparison, 250,000 factory jobs were created in 2018.

The decline has been increasingly felt ahead of the election this fall, with 12,000 jobs shed in December alone. Factory job losses have been most pronounced in the very states Trump has sought to boost: Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Blue-collar industries outside of manufacturing have also struggled, including others Trump pledged to save. Mining lost 8,000 jobs in December, while transportation and warehousing shed 10,000.

The outlook has remained dismal among factories, according to recent surveys, despite the two economic agreements the Trump administration announced in recent months.

Still, one blue-collar industry could see a turnaround in the coming months. Farmers are expected to see incomes increase under the trade deals with China and North American neighbors, placating a key constituency for Trump after nearly two years of bruising tariffs.

"For the farming community, it will be welcome news, since they would prefer to be able to sell their goods rather than depend on federal bailouts, but it's not clear they will be grateful to Trump for disrupting their markets," said Donald Moynihan, the McCourt Chair at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University.

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