After sitting idle for weeks or even months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. assembly plants have finally restarted production, albeit with the occasional hiccup.

Since the end of the Great Recession, U.S. manufacturing jobs increased steadily, from 11.5 million in December 2009 to 12.9 million in November 2019.

In January 2017, Toyota pledged to invest $13 billion in its U.S. operations over five years. On June 30, the company announced it will reach that goal a year early.

Numerous studies have revealed a peculiarity about our next-generation workforce. While they might have a positive perception of manufacturing, most would not consider careers in the industry.

All things being equal, most U.S. consumers would prefer to buy products that are made in the USA. So when a company claims a product is made in this country when it's not, it can get burned.

As of April 19, more than 2.4 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported in 235 countries. Worldwide, more than 165,000 people have died from the disease, but more than 612,000 have recovered.

How quickly things change. On March 1, I was one of 15,000 people watching the Chicago Cubs play a spring training game at a ballpark in Mesa, AZ. It was warm and sunny, the beer was cold, and I had not a care in the world.

In January, the U.S. and China agreed to a trade deal that cut some U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods in exchange for Chinese pledges to purchase more American farm, energy and manufactured goods and address U.S. complaints about intellectual property practices.