In the 1970s, the Upstate region of South Carolina was the textile capital, thriving with mills and rail traffic. However, by the 1990s, automation and overseas competition devastated the industry, leading to economic declines in towns like Union. Adolphus Jones, a retired mill worker, dismisses President Trump's tariffs aimed at reviving American manufacturing, arguing that the old mill jobs offered little pay and upward mobility, questioning their desirability for youth today.
The mill work had paid little, and upward mobility was nonexistent. The textile industry is dead, he said, buttoning his wool suit made in Italy.
Mr. Jones, now 71 and retired, scoffed at President Trump's vision of an American manufacturing revival through tariffs, questioning why the younger generation would want to work there.
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