For years, manufacturers have depended on the middleman to distribute goods and get merchandise in front of customers.

In my last column, we looked at the reasons why U.S.-made products resonate with consumers. Studies found a preference for U.S.-made products when concerns about quality, safety and durability were high.

Studies show that Americans prefer U.S.-made products, and that this preference can help bring manufacturing back home. But can we turn consumer preference into purchases?

The United States, Canada and Mexico have reached a broad agreement on the "new NAFTA," the U.S.- Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA).

WAYNE, MI—A secret meeting in 2015 between Ford Motor Co. and the UAW led to job security and a sigh of relief among factory workers three years later as they begin manufacturing the Ranger midsize pickup truck at Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant here.

More than 170,000 new U.S. manufacturing jobs were announced in 2017 as a result of either reshoring or foreign direct in-vestment (FDI). That's an increase of 52 percent from 2016 and an incredible 2,800 percent from 2010.

Numerous pundits have forecast that U.S. manufacturing will follow the path of agriculture: Automation will replace human workers and steal all of our jobs. It will be an automation doomsday. Clearly, returning jobs will be, on average, higher skilled and fewer in number than when the work was lost offshore years ago. However, in reality, automation is key to reshoring and thus to U.S. job growth.

KILDEER, IL—Thanks to reshoring and foreign direct investment, the United States gained more than 170,000 manufacturing jobs in 2017, according to the latest data from the Reshoring Institute.

In January, President Donald Trump traveled to Davos, Switzerland, to speak at the annual World Economic Forum (WEF). His message: "America is open for business."