When President Donald Trump wanted to illustrate America's manufacturing strength, he came to the Lehigh Valley. 

During a visit to Mack Trucks on Tuesday, the President highlighted the iconic manufacturer’s long legacy of producing here and providing quality jobs.

“For more than 100 years, this legendary company has been making trucks right here in eastern Pennsylvania, building the heavy-duty machinery that keeps our economy rolling, our factories moving, and our industries roaring all across the nation,” he said following a tour of the plant in Lower Macungie Township with President Stephen Roy.

His visit came a few days after U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie visited another Mack Trucks location in Allentown to announce that subsidiary Mack Defense had received $47 million in federal funding to continue building heavy dump trucks for the Department of Defense.

During his remarks at Mack, Trump also called out three recent major expansions that are bolstering the Lehigh Valley’s position as one of the Top 15% of manufacturing markets in the U.S.:

• Eli Lilly and Company’s $3.5 billion pharmaceutical manufacturing campus planned in Upper Macungie Township. It will create 850 jobs, 2,000 construction jobs, and generate a projected $14 billion in economic activity.
• Nokia’s $30 million expansion, announced just last week, of its photonics advanced testing and packing operations in Upper Macungie. It will create 242 new jobs and position the Lehigh Valley to continue its role as a leader in technological innovation amid the demand for semiconductors to fuel artificial intelligence.
• Braun’s $20 million expansion, announced last year, of its medical device manufacturing hub in Hanover Township, Lehigh County. It will create 200 new jobs.

Lehigh Valley is home to more than 700 manufacturers who collectively generate an output of $9 billion, which makes up 16% of the region’s Gross Domestic Product. Nationally, manufacturing accounts for 11% of GDP.

Employment in manufacturing in the Lehigh Valley has grown three times as fast as the nation since 2010. Growth in manufacturing helped to fuel Lehigh Valley’s ranking as the No. 1 mid-sized market in the U.S. for economic development in 2025.

This is the second presidential visit that Mack Trucks has hosted in five years. In 2021, President Joe Biden toured Mack to kick off his “Made in America” initiative.

Lehigh Valley is a regular stop for presidents to speak on economic issues.

In January 2024, Biden visited three small businesses in Emmaus to celebrate America’s entrepreneurial spirit and its connection to economic growth.

In 2020, Trump visited Owens & Minor in Upper Macungie Township to highlight how the company had ramped up production and delivered millions of pieces of protective equipment to health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

(Photo courtesy of White House)