This piece originally appeared in RealClearPolicy.
From Georgia to Arizona and from Michigan to Texas, a long-overdue resurgence is taking hold in American manufacturing. In towns where industrial jobs were once written off as relics of the past, new facilities are breaking ground, well-paid jobs are opening, and domestic production is reasserting itself as a cornerstone of national strength. This progress is real, and it is not happening by chance.
One policy has quietly become an important element of this revival: the 45X advanced manufacturing tax credit. Created by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the 45X credit is a straightforward, production-based incentive that rewards companies for manufacturing energy components in the United States. It covers items like solar-related manufacturing, battery production, and critical minerals.
At its core, 45X reflects a simple principle: if the U.S. wants to lead the world in advanced manufacturing, it must make things here at home. For decades, American companies faced overwhelming pressure to offshore production in pursuit of lower costs. The result was an economy increasingly dependent on foreign suppliers—often adversarial nations like China—for vital components and materials. The 45X tax credit reverses that trend by reducing the cost disadvantage of domestic production, which gives American manufacturers and their families a fighting chance.
