"Made in America" Needs a Map. Trump Just Signed a Law Ordering Commerce to Find What We Import and Could Build at Home
President Trump signed the bipartisan Critical Infrastructure Manufacturing Feasibility Act on Oct. 20. It orders the Commerce Department to identify high-demand imports in 16 critical sectors and judge which could be made in America, including in rural towns and industrial parks. In our view, it is a smart first step. A study is not a factory, so the follow-through has to be fast.
By Clara Hughes
ALTAS WORLD NEWS OPINION | By Clara Hughes, Chief Opinion Editor | October 21, 2026 | 6-min read During the pandemic, Americans learned the hard way what it means when the things we need are made somewhere else. As Sen. Joni Ernst reminded the Senate last month, microchips ran short and Midwest moms had to worry about finding baby formula [1]. On Oct. 20, President Trump signed a law that tells Washington to stop guessing and start mapping. The Critical Infrastructure Manufacturing Feasibility Act directs the Commerce Department to identify products that are in high demand across America's critical infrastructure sectors and are being imported because of manufacturing, material or supply chain constraints, and then to judge which of them could be made here [2][3]. In our view, it is a smart, low-cost first step toward bringing production home. The test will be what Washington does with the answers. Key Takeaways President Trump signed H.R. 1721, the Critical Infrastructure Manufacturing Feasibility Act, on Oct. 20, 2026 [2]. Commerce must complete a study within one year and send Congress a public report with recommendations within 18 months [3]. The study covers all 16 designated critical infrastructure sectors and must weigh costs, benefits, jobs and prices [3]. It must examine the feasibility of, and obstacles to, manufacturing in rural areas and industrial parks [3]. The inconvenient part: it is a study,