From Devastation to Chaos: Tracking the Impact of Trade Policy Across All 50 States

Trade policies have had a devastating impact on workers, farmers, and local communities across the United States, with significant job, farm, and income losses reported in all 50 states.

The full report

According to a new set of fact sheets released by Public Citizen, the toll of the NAFTA-WTO era and today's chaotic trade policies on workers, farmers, and local communities in all 50 states in the U.S. is substantial. The data show significant job, farm, and income loss across the South and Northeast, as well as in other areas of the country often left out of the discussion on trade. The ongoing impacts of these losses still loom large in political battleground areas, and are especially relevant when talking about working-class politics in post-industrial and rural areas.

The U.S. has about 4.4 million fewer manufacturing jobs today than in 1994, when NAFTA went into effect. Nationwide, more than 3 million workers were certified by the U.S. government as losing their jobs to trade policy during this period. The share of manufacturing jobs in 43 states dropped by more than 30% in that period and by more than 50% in 12 states. One quarter of manufacturing job losses took place in the seven key 2024 battleground states, with Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin losing more than 1 million manufacturing jobs combined.

The decline of the industrial heartland is a significant concern, with nearly one third of national manufacturing job losses coming from just six states: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Combined, these states lost more than 1,400,000 manufacturing jobs. The Northeast, New England plus New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, lost more than 40% of its manufacturing jobs – more than any other region. New York and Rhode Island each lost more than half of their manufacturing jobs.

The Southern Rust Belt has also been severely impacted, with manufacturing's share of total jobs dropping by more than 45% in the Southern states. This shift was most pronounced in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, where the drop was more than 50%. Union membership was also decimated, with ten states seeing union density declines of more than 50%, five of which are in the South. Nationwide, overall union density fell 35%, while only one state, Vermont, saw an increase.

Farm losses have also been significant, with the South losing more than 140,000 farms, more than half from just three states: Tennessee, North Carolina, and Kentucky. Workers left without relief, with since 2022, Congress has left over 100,000 workers who lost their jobs due to our trade policies stranded by failing to reauthorize the Trade Adjustment Assistance program.