AMNA NAWAZ: The sweeping tariffs imposed by President Trump are already impacting the global economy.

But if tariffs are meant to bring jobs home, what happens if the U.S. may no longer have all the tools to do the work?

GEOFF BENNETT: Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports on the hurdles faced when one Alabama company tried to make a product entirely in America and what it suggests about the challenges ahead.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: So we're going to have made in the USA like we haven't had before in a long time.

MAN: More consumers are searching for made-in-the-USA labels.

PAUL SOLMAN: The economic battle cry these days.

WORKERS: Made in America!

MAN: Buy made in America.

PAUL SOLMAN: Sounds great.

DONALD TRUMP: The days of making our parts all over the world because we have wonderful partners, no, it's America first now.

PAUL SOLMAN: And even before President Trump began announcing tariffs to bring back American manufacturing, in Huntsville, Alabama, Destin Sandlin was already on the case.

DESTIN SANDLIN, Host, "Smarter Every Day": Is it possible to make something in America and be competitive in the marketplace?

PAUL SOLMAN: Sandlin is a rocket scientist and engineer who used to test missiles for the military.

He now hosts the wildly popular "Smarter Every Day" series on YouTube, more than 11 million subscribers.

He's explored everything from why humans don't die at birth, to how to survive an underwater helicopter crash, to what happens to a baseball when it goes past the speed of sound.

How do you come up with topics?

DESTIN SANDLIN: That's just whatever I'm interested in.

That's the only requirement.

PAUL SOLMAN: His off-the-wall latest experiment, to manufacture a product, every single part of which is made in the USA.

DESTIN SANDLIN: Could we even do it?

Could we make the tools necessary to make things in America?

PAUL SOLMAN: The idea was sparked by the pandemic and a critical shortage in his community.

DESTIN SANDLIN: We needed personal protective equipment for medical workers and we couldn't get it.

Like, we were waiting on people to fly things into us from other countries.

We couldn't make it.

And that scared the fire out of me.

PAUL SOLMAN: Sandlin and other local engineers organized an effort to 3-D print the desperately needed products.

Not long after, Sandlin met Alabama businessman John Youngblood, who wanted to make a barbecue grill scrubber using chain mail, instead of the standard bristles, which: JOHN YOUNGBLOOD, Owner, JJGeorge: Those metal bristles, like a wire brush... PAUL SOLMAN: Yes.

Yes.

JOHN YOUNGBLOOD: ... will break off and people are swallowing them.

PAUL SOLMAN: Really?

JOHN YOUNGBLOOD: And then you're going to the doctor.

If you ask any E.R.

doctor, everybody's seen it.

PAUL SOLMAN: Sandlin saw his opportunity.

JOHN YOUNGBLOOD: Destin asked me straight up, he's like, hey, would you be willing to go in with me on this product and we can make it all here in the U.S.?

And I was like, absolutely.

DESTIN SANDLIN: I don't think John would have said yes to me if the potential to market on YouTube wasn't there.

PAUL SOLMAN: But it was.

And so, in 2021, the pair set out.

CHRIS ROBSON, The Robson Company, Inc.: So I guided them how to mold and how to make molds.

PAUL SOLMAN: They lucked out at first, finding tool and diemaker Chris Robson, about to turn 70.

CHRIS ROBSON: So, when they finished the molds, we checked them out, made sure everything was going to work for us.

PAUL SOLMAN: And they started making some of the scrubbers first parts.

But, says Sandlin: DESTIN SANDLIN: Manufacturing capacity in America has been gutted.

If Chris had decided to retire before I needed that mold made, we would not have been able to make an injection mold in my area.

PAUL SOLMAN: Or who knows where, given the state of manufacturing in the U.S. CHRIS ROBSON: Tool and die trade is suffering greatly by the fact that we're losing tool and diemakers.

Most of them are about my age.

We don't have any younger people stepping up to take the place of the people that are retiring.

PAUL SOLMAN: And when they look for the simplest part, a plain old steel bolt that would also be made in America: JOHN YOUNGBLOOD: This little stainless steel bolt right here is a one-inch bolt.

DESTIN SANDLIN: I talked to a bolt manufacturer, and he said, yes, we can't get the material for that.

We can't even buy the steel to make the bolt for that cost.

So, good luck.

Also, I think what you're doing is great young man in Alabama, but I don't think you're going to get there.

PAUL SOLMAN: Eventually, they found a bolt maker in Massachusetts.

JOHN YOUNGBLOOD: We could buy that bolt for a nickel made overseas and we pay 38 cents a piece for these bolts.

PAUL SOLMAN: As for the scrubbers steel handle... And how many parts do you make here, would you guess?

WESTON COLEMAN, T&C Stamping, Inc.: Tens of millions.

PAUL SOLMAN: Enter Weston Coleman at T&C Stamping, in Athens, Alabama.

WESTON COLEMAN: So the first station, we actually bend of the handle down.

We just make sure this handle is wrapped fully around on the end.

PAUL SOLMAN: But doing the work in America costs way more than, say, in China.

WESTON COLEMAN: For every dollar that we would quote a bill for, they're quoting it for 25 cents.

PAUL SOLMAN: Though, long term, Coleman says, offshoring has its own costs even before adding possible tariffs.

WESTON COLEMAN: There's hidden costs.

There's maintenance costs.

There's going to be quality issues, and quality costs money, especially if it's a long-term part.

John Youngblood and Destin Sandlin, they want this to be a long-term part and a long-term business partnership.

And 10 years down the road, they're no telling what the tooling costs and maintenance costs are going to be on an overseas tool.

PAUL SOLMAN: In short, another example of manufacturing myopia in America, but, so far, all parts made in America, including the molded knob that holds the scrubber to the handle, or so they thought.

DESTIN SANDLIN: This was originally supposed to be made in America, but the box came in, and they said made in Costa Rica.

JOHN YOUNGBLOOD: That's right.

That's right.

We thought they were made in Mississippi.

PAUL SOLMAN: They were not.

DESTIN SANDLIN: One of the things we're realizing is, the only things we can verify are made in America are the things that we 100 percent control the supply chain of, because we manufactured it or watched it being manufactured.

Wouldn't you say that?

JOHN YOUNGBLOOD: That's right.

PAUL SOLMAN: As for that American bolt that cost them 38 cents?

JOHN YOUNGBLOOD: We have been told it's made in America.

And, I mean, maybe we're a little naive to believe it.

PAUL SOLMAN: Well, who told you?

JOHN YOUNGBLOOD: The supplier.

And we have searched low and high.

DESTIN SANDLIN: Yes.

JOHN YOUNGBLOOD: And I do believe the bolt's made here, especially with that 38 cent price point.

(LAUGHTER) PAUL SOLMAN: But they're not sure.

OK, four years on, the scrubber is for sale online for $75, a little less at a local Alabama grill store.

JASON PEASLEE, Southern Hearth and Grills: So we have been in business since 1982.

PAUL SOLMAN: But given the sky high costs of made in America, will anyone buy it?

Are they selling or?

JASON PEASLEE: Yes.

I wouldn't say necessarily like hotcakes because grill brushes are not necessarily the hottest commodity right now, but they are selling.

PAUL SOLMAN: So this is how much?

JASON PEASLEE: Sixty dollars.

PAUL SOLMAN: And what's the competition?

JASON PEASLEE: The probably closest thing on this would be this triple row brush from Napoleon.

PAUL SOLMAN: And how much is this?

JASON PEASLEE: Twenty-one.

PAUL SOLMAN: Thrice the price, but worth it says salesman Jason Peaslee.

Is it a selling point that this is just made in America?

JASON PEASLEE: Absolutely.

PAUL SOLMAN: But four long years, a lofty price tag because of made in America, and yet still not everything is.

When you started this, did you realize what a challenge it was going to be, things like this?

DESTIN SANDLIN: No.

It's a hard thing to do.

Like, making something in America is very, very difficult.

And you almost have to go against the economic forces to try to make it happen.

Would you agree?

JOHN YOUNGBLOOD: A hundred percent.

DESTIN SANDLIN: It's similar to -- it's a hybrid of the design that you and I talked about.

So... PAUL SOLMAN: Still, they have gone back to Robson, whose laser gives the scrubber its proud final flourish, made in the USA.

He will now help make new all-American knobs.

So, in the end, a kick-start to a made in America renaissance?

DESTIN SANDLIN: We're not going to turn around American manufacturing with a grill scrubber being made in Alabama.

It's not going to happen.

But we might excite somebody in Nebraska.

And I think that's important, because I think the future is for people who make things.

PAUL SOLMAN: I think everybody in the audience would be sympathetic to what you're saying.

But I think they'd also be skeptical that we could turn things around.

DESTIN SANDLIN: It's never going to happen if you don't try.

So someone has to be stubborn enough to try it and see what happens.

PAUL SOLMAN: Stubbornness, a product still very much made in America.

For the "PBS News Hour," Paul Solman in Huntsville, Alabama.