Refocusing American Diplomacy on Reindustrialization and Technical Expertise
America’s foreign policy establishment—the men and women staffing embassies, consulates, and commercial sections around the world—likes to talk about economic diplomacy. Yet for all the jargon about “competitiveness,” “innovation ecosystems,” and “strategic partnerships,” one glaring truth remains: there is not a single federal employee stationed in Germany, Japan, or South Korea whose sole job is to engage with companies possessing the technologies critical to President Trump’s reindustrialization agenda.
That is a staggering failure of focus and imagination. At a time when the United States is striving to rebuild its industrial base, re-shore manufacturing, and secure supply chains, our Department of State remains trapped in outdated patterns of economic advocacy—attending trade shows, writing memos about “green energy partnerships,” and holding endless “innovation roundtables” that generate little more than photo ops. Meanwhile, the real work—the hands-on recruitment of advanced manufacturers, toolmakers, and materials specialists who can supercharge American production—is left undone.
The Strategic Gap in Economic Diplomacy
Let’s be clear about what’s missing. The United States does not lack capital, markets, or entrepreneurial energy. What we lack are the specialized technologies and process know-how that drive modern manufacturing—precision engineering, industrial robotics integration, advanced materials, and component design. These are the hard skills that our German, Japanese, and South Korean allies have perfected over decades through disciplined industrial cultures.
Yet the State Department’s economic officers—largely career generalists—are neither trained nor tasked to engage these companies at a serious level. Our foreign service remains oriented toward big multinationals, not the “hidden champions”: midsize firms that dominate niche markets and underpin the manufacturing ecosystems of advanced economies. These firms, often family-owned, are the lifeblood of their nations’ export engines. They are exactly the kind of partners the U.S. needs if we are serious about reclaiming our industrial leadership.
But these companies rarely consider America first. Why? Because no one from the U.S. government is knocking on their doors, offering a clear pathway to invest, set up shop, and transfer their technical expertise to American workers. Instead, they encounter a bureaucratic maze of unclear incentives, inconsistent guidance, and fragmented state and federal contacts. Our diplomats should be fixing that—but too many are focused instead on speeches about irrelevant topics such as “inclusive growth” or “climate diplomacy.”
A Conservative Blueprint for Action
What we need is a strategic reset—a coherent, disciplined effort to align our overseas economic presence with the Trump Administration’s reindustrialization objectives. The guiding principle should be simple: every dollar of U.S. diplomatic economic engagement must support the rebuilding of American industry.
That begins with deploying specialized Regional Investment Advisors—career professionals or appointees posted overseas whose sole mission is to identify, court, and facilitate investment from midsize technology and manufacturing firms. These advisors would provide continuity beyond the short-term churn of embassy staff. Their task would not be to write reports or hold conferences, but to close deals—helping companies navigate regulatory hurdles, match with U.S. partners, and commit to building operations in America.
To jump-start the effort, Tiger Teams—small, mission-driven groups composed of experts from Commerce, State, and the private sector—should provide the initial surge. Their mandate: identify 50 to 100 priority firms in Germany, Japan, and South Korea and get them on a path toward U.S. investment within 12 months. The goal isn’t another “task force” that issues a white paper. It’s tangible, job-creating industrial partnerships on American soil.
Leveraging the E-2 Visa: A Strategic Tool for Reindustrialization
A linchpin of this effort should be the E-2 visa program, a vastly underused mechanism that fits perfectly with the reindustrialization agenda. Unlike the H-1B visa—which often results in permanent labor substitution and the displacement of U.S. workers—the E-2 visa is temporary and tied directly to investment. It allows key personnel from companies that invest in the U.S. to enter and work on-site, bringing with them the technical expertise needed to get American operations up and running.
This is not about importing cheap labor—it’s about importing know-how. It’s about enabling U.S. workers to learn directly from master technicians, engineers, and process specialists. By localizing these skills through short- and medium-term technical transfers, we can close the capability gaps that have long hindered American manufacturing growth.
The E-2 framework also provides flexibility. Once the knowledge transfer is complete, these foreign experts can return home, while their American counterparts continue production independently. It’s a model that encourages investment, builds domestic capacity, and avoids the long-term immigration entanglements that come with other visa categories.
Restoring Purpose and Accountability in Economic Diplomacy
To make this work, the Department of State must change its mindset. Economic officers should be evaluated not by how many “engagements” they log, but by tangible results: investment dollars attracted, technologies transferred, and jobs created in the U.S. heartland. We need measurable outcomes tied to national objectives—not the vague “relationship building” metrics that dominate the bureaucracy today.
It’s also time to stop letting political correctness dilute our economic mission. Too often, the focus abroad has been on “gender empowerment,” “climate-aligned investment” or other liberal priorities. Those may sound good in talking points, but they do nothing to strengthen America’s steel mills, semiconductor fabs, or machine-tool plants. The new test of economic diplomacy should be: does it bring production back to America? Does it build our capacity to make the things that matter—chips, turbines, bearings, vehicles, tools, and materials?
If the answer is no, it’s not a priority.
The Stakes: Competitiveness and Sovereignty
The stakes could not be higher. In an era of global uncertainty and strategic competition, the ability to make things—to produce what we need without relying on fragile foreign supply chains—is the foundation of national strength. President Trump’s reindustrialization initiative is not merely an economic program; it is a sovereignty program. It’s about ensuring that America’s prosperity and security are rooted in domestic capability, not foreign dependence.
Yet while the President has made this clear at home, our overseas machinery lags behind. The Department of State must catch up or risk irrelevance in the new industrial age. We cannot afford to have embassies acting as passive observers while other nations compete aggressively for investment and talent. The United States should be leading the global competition for industrial capacity—not watching from the sidelines.
Conclusion: From Words to Action
The path forward is clear. The Trump Administration should direct the Department of State to:
Establish Regional Investment Advisors in Germany, Japan, and South Korea dedicated solely to industrial recruitment.
Deploy Tiger Teams to accelerate company engagement and remove bureaucratic barriers.
Leverage the E-2 visa program as the primary vehicle for temporary technical transfers and skill localization.
Measure success by concrete industrial outcomes—factories built, technologies transferred, and American jobs created.
If we are serious about rebuilding America, then our diplomacy must serve that purpose. Every embassy should become an extension of the reindustrialization effort. Every economic officer should know which firms we need and what it will take to bring them here.
It’s time to stop talking about “partnerships” and start building them—in steel, silicon, and skill. President Trump’s vision of a renewed industrial America can only succeed if our diplomats are enlisted in the cause. The question is whether the State Department is ready to trade its talking points for tools—and to help forge, once again, the world’s greatest manufacturing nation.
