'We made a terrible mistake': Marco Rubio warns of America's dependence

WASHINGTON, DC: Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US push to produce goods wherever they cost the least helped deindustrialize America and created dangerous dependence on other nations.

Rubio said that dependence now affects supplies needed for economic activity, national security, and the country's survival as a prosperous nation-state.

He made the remarks on Thursday, September 3, at the launch of the Foundry School at the Institute of Peace in Washington.

Marco Rubio says cheap production hollowed out US industry

“I think we made a terrible mistake in this country,” Rubio said, pointing to the post-Cold War belief that goods should be made wherever they could be produced most efficiently and cheaply.

That approach, he said, prioritized higher company profits and lower consumer costs while assuming economic integration would reshape the world around free enterprise and democracy.

Rubio argued that assumption “ran into reality” because nations continue to act in their own interests, with national borders and nationalism still mattering.

“The result of it is that it deindustrialized America,” Rubio said.

He said the country lost capacity not only to make large industrial equipment but also basic components needed for modern economic life.

The result, according to Rubio, was a country “dangerously dependent” on other nations for goods tied not only to economic strength but also to national security and prosperity.

The administration is seeking to reverse that dependence through a broader reindustrialization effort, Rubio said, including access to critical minerals and the ability to process them.

Marco Rubio calls for a long-term effort

Rubio said the initiative depends on cooperation among government, higher education, and the private sector, with businesses identifying needed skills and schools helping workers acquire them.

“These three pillars working together drive us towards this outcome that we want,” Rubio said.

He also rejected the idea that rebuilding manufacturing would be a short-term undertaking.

“This is not a two-year project,” he said, adding that the effort would require sustained attention across multiple administrations.

Rubio said the push “has to go on for a generation,” making long-term government commitment part of the initiative he was presenting at the Washington launch.

The Foundry School targets advanced manufacturing skills

Rubio said rebuilding domestic production will require a workforce with more skills and workers who may need to be retrained multiple times during their careers.

The Foundry School, a State Department project under the Pax Silica initiative, is designed to train entrepreneurs, engineers, technicians, and industrial leaders for advanced manufacturing jobs in semiconductors, defense and energy.

Rubio also emphasized the role of higher education, which he called “one of the crown jewels” powering American innovation and economic influence.

He said the country had created innovations that were later made elsewhere, and argued that colleges can be repurposed to give workers the skills needed for modern manufacturing.

"The initiative is also intended to address questions about the value of college," Rubio said.

Students who follow the curriculum, he argued, should leave with skills that can make them immediately employable in well-paying, stable jobs.