This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Thursday, August 5th, 2010. I'm Caleb Brown.

Democrats hope to boost manufacturing in the US, or at least boost manufacturing jobs in the US,

but the trend of declining employment in manufacturing in the US, but the trend of declining employment in the US is decades in the making,

even as manufacturing output has recently hit all-time highs.

Dan Griswold, director of the Cato Institute's Center for Trade Policy Studies, and

author of the book Matt About Trade offers his thoughts.

Congress did something surprising recently.

They passed a unilateral cut in tariffs on about 600 items that are

imported the United States where we don't make the items anymore so there was

no domestic opposition but there are chemicals and parts that are used by US companies, in particular manufacturers to make their final products and sell them abroad.

Congress has done this every three or four years for the

last 30 years under the title of the miscellaneous tariff bill, but getting the

mood of the time the Democratic leadership called this the Manufacturing Enhancement Act of 2010

and it really is something positive Congress has done.

A targeted tax cut on duties that were imposed on items important to U.S.

manufacturers. Now unfortunately it's only temporary. Three years they'll expire and

then Congress can go through all this again. But if you're looking for some good

news there it was.

You're talking about goods that are intermediate, that are used in American manufacturing.

The problem that Democrats see are finished goods that come from over that Democrats really

in the United States.

Their plan is make it in America,

...