Outlet profile

Alliance for American Manufacturing

U.S. pro-labor protectionist

Owned byJointly governed by domestic manufacturers and the United Steelworkers union, structured as a non-profit business league; no single owner

FundingDues and donations from member manufacturers and the United Steelworkers union; not tax-deductible; annual revenue roughly $5 million

On the administrationbroadly supportive

Background

AAM was founded in 2007 as a formal partnership between leading U.S. manufacturers and the United Steelworkers, an unusual alliance between corporate and organized-labor interests united around protecting domestic industrial jobs. It is structured as a business league rather than a traditional charity, meaning donations are not tax-deductible. Since its founding, it has been led by President Scott Paul, a former AFL-CIO trade official and Capitol Hill aide. The organization built its reputation by aggressively lobbying against Chinese trade practices, supporting anti-dumping measures, and promoting Buy American procurement rules. It filed — and successfully defended — a defamation suit brought by Chinese automaker BYD after AAM publicly warned about risks from Chinese vehicle imports; all courts, including the Supreme Court, sided with AAM. Bloomberg has described AAM as providing 'the most vocal outside intellectual support' for Trump's tariff program during his second term, and AAM has called for those tariffs to be strengthened and expanded. While the organization labels itself non-partisan, its consistent support for protectionist trade policy has aligned it closely with the priorities of both the Trump administration and industrial-union Democrats, making its practical orientation closer to economic nationalism than traditional left-right categories.

Sources

Profile compiled 2026-09-18; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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