Jobs First

The strength of a Nation rests first in the hearts of its people — but a free and flourishing economy is a necessity for any nation to build and prosper. The America First Policy Institute conducts advances policies to promote economic strength. Sound economic policies from 2017 to 2020 delivered extraordinary prosperity including unprecedented growth and the lowest-ever unemployment levels for American communities who needed it the most. Economic strength is not something we pursue for the sake of big finance and big business: it matters only to the extent Americans experience it in their communities and in their homes. We measure our economy not by its promotion of big returns, but by its creation of big dreams.

For years, the D.C. and global corporate elites, in the name of free trade orthodoxy, allowed markets and market efficiencies to be an overwhelming influence on policy decisions. Nowhere was that more evident than in the realm of international trade relations, where the United States repeatedly entered into deals that protected and promoted the interests of foreign workers, foreign agriculture, and foreign businesses — but not our own. American workers and American communities were ground beneath the inescapable “progress” that transformed the likes of Shenzhen and Reynosa into productive powerhouses — while the likes of Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee, and Pittsburgh — America’s industrial backbone — slid into decline. Free trade is an intrinsic good, but only if it is also fair trade, and the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) will advance policies that champion free and fair American trade.

The spirit of the American worker is the very foundation of our Nation. There is no force more potent — when left to be free, to prosper, and to flourish. From 2017 to 2020, the American workforce experienced one of the greatest and most robust economies in U.S. history. In this period, the skills-gap crisis and seismic shift in work challenged the “college or bust” mentality which propelled policymakers to promote a full range of career and education opportunities and to prepare our workforce for the changing nature of work. The American First Policy Institute (AFPI) will advance policies to promote a full range of career opportunities and prepare our workforce for the industries of the future. As we work to rebuild our economy and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the AFPI is prioritizing our Nation’s most critical asset, the American worker. AFPI will help restore American workers to their proper place, which is at the center of governance and policy alike. The class of Americans who made our Republic the greatest Nation on Earth deserves to be heard, valued — and in charge.