President Trump says his new tariff regime will bring factories “roaring back” to the U.S., and manufacturing boosters are among those most enthusiastic about his second-term agenda. But if the goal is to future-proof a national economy that can thrive in the rest of the 21st century, revitalizing manufacturing won’t be enough.

We all know how we got here: A combination of increased overseas production, policy shifts and technological change led to a decades-long decline in U.S. manufacturing jobs. My hometown in upstate New York was devastated in 1998 when the local Champion plant shut down the rest of their manufacturing and moved to Mexico.

But even overseas, the manufacturing industry isn’t what it used to be. Worldwide, manufacturing now represents a shrinking percentage of gross domestic products, even in countries like China and India that have long been seen as the global future of the industry.

Aging populations, post-pandemic shifts, wealthier consumers favoring experiences over goods, and automation reducing labor needs on plant floors have all weakened manufacturing’s dominance as the potential savior to America’s jobs crisis.

If bringing back manufacturing isn’t the long-term answer many think it is, where........

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