President Donald Trump's aggressive push to protect domestic industry through tariffs is backfiring on the very sector it aims to defend, with the U.S. manufacturing economy shrinking for the sixth month in a row and businesses citing soaring costs, job cuts and planning chaos.
The Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for August stood at 48.7%, just above July's 48% but still below the key 50% level that signals expansion. Economists had forecast a modest rebound to 49%.
