(The Center Square) – President Donald Trump’s visit to the Lehigh Valley on Tuesday blended economic messaging with campaign politics as he lauded the impact of his administration’s tariff policies on reviving U.S. manufacturing.
But it wasn’t all too long ago that his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, also walked the floors of the Macungie, Pa., facility, shaking hands with workers and promising his regulatory changes to make government contractors buy “substantially” American-made products would support the company’s growth.
As of 2026, the “Buy American” rule requires 65% of the materials used to be domestically produced, rising to 75% in 2029. The figure expands upon a rule change from Trump’s first term in office that increased the threshold from 50% to 55%.
For Mack Trucks, which has been manufacturing in Pennsylvania for more than a century, the rule makes them an appealing choice for government contractors, including ongoing negotiations for a supply of 15,000 trucks. The Center Square was unable to confirm the potential cost of the contract.
“We brought this economy back from the brink, checks in people’s pockets, shots in people’s arms, tax cuts for working families with children,” Biden said during his July 2021 visit. “We designed our strategy to not only to provide a temporary boost but to lay the foundation for a long-term boom that brings everyone along.”
A long-standing goal for many a president interested in capturing the support of blue-collar workers across the region, repatriating manufacturing jobs that have drifted overseas for decades, has been an evolving challenge. In 2021, Biden’s $1 trillion infrastructure spending plan was meant to “rebuild the backbone of the country” as pandemic-induced forces stretched unemployment and spiked supply chain shortages.
Criticism of the former administration’s recovery plans was one of the pillars of Trump’s presidential campaign and helped flip the swing region back in his favor after Biden won it in 2020. Even still, the presidents apparently agree on one thing – Mack Trucks exemplifies the best of their vision for domestic manufacturing dominance.
“You are the ones who are making America great again and you’re building the heavy-duty machinery that keeps our economy rolling, our factories moving and our industries roaring all across the nation,” Trump said on Tuesday.
Company President Stephen Roy said Tuesday that it now supports 2,800 employees, has invested more than $400 million in facilities over the past decade and more than $1 billion in new truck lines, and has recalled more than 150 workers amid strong demand.
Republican officials and administration representatives, including State Treasurer Stacy Garrity, U.S. Reps. Dan Meuser and Ryan Mackenzie, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, and Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling, echoed Trump’s broader message that tax cuts, trade policy, energy production, and workforce development are helping revive American industry.
Mackenzie also pointed to $47 million he said helped secure for Mack Defense to build more heavy-duty trucks in the Lehigh Valley, saying the funding protects union jobs, strengthens domestic supply chains, and supports skilled manufacturing workers.
Trump said his administration’s trade policies are designed to protect companies like Mack from foreign competition, pointing to tariffs on foreign steel, aluminum, copper, automobiles, and heavy-duty trucks as tools to encourage companies to build in the U.S and hire American workers.
Though even the company itself initially had doubts. In early 2025, just months into Trump’s second term, it announced layoffs of up to 350 workers amid tariff uncertainty. Ultimately, 170 were laid off, and 150 were brought back later in that same year.
