Recent data showed that factory activity slowed again in November. That makes it nine months of contraction in a row.

For more on the state of manufacturing — especially in light of the ongoing trade war — “Marketplace Morning Report” host David Brancaccio was joined by Blake Moret, CEO of Rockwell Automation. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.

David Brancaccio: Now I've been in factories, and I've seen the Rockwell brand, sometimes it is really hardware. Did the increase in tariffs and the shifts in tariffs force your company to have to adapt in real time?

Blake Moret: In kind of an unforeseen way, some of the things that we did during the supply chain crisis a few years ago, as we were building additional capacity around the world to get caught up, when the semiconductor chips finally came in, and we had large backlogs that we needed to relieve. And as a starting point, that's helped us balance where things are made to help with tariffs. In the end, what we're looking to do is to try to make the effect of tariffs neutral to our profitability. We're not looking to get rich off of tariffs, of course, but we also want to protect ourselves as our costs increase.

Brancaccio: Now, they do this formal scientific survey of people who do the ordering at factories. It's the purchasing managers’ manufacturing index. But I have you on the line. How are you seeing factory activity in December of 2025?

Moret: In the U.S., and to some extent around the world, we're seeing pretty good activity in what we would call brownfields. Greenfield activity, a number of the decisions to move forward with new construction, that is still being delayed in certain industries because of some of the uncertainty. But in the pharmaceutical industry, there have been some very high-profile announcements of new construction, especially in the U.S. You're seeing some activity in automotive. And then the single strongest vertical industry for us is what we'd call e-commerce and warehouse automation.

Brancaccio: Brownfields is an existing facility. Greenfields is the big decision about whether or not to open something new.

Moret: That's correct. And in fact, Rockwell just announced a new greenfield, the first major new plant in the U.S. in many years, in Wisconsin.

Brancaccio: Yes, southeast Wisconsin — a million square feet. I mean, with all this uncertainty in the world, you were undaunted, weren't you?

Moret: Well, we certainly pay attention to what's going on, but we're placing a long-term bet, and that is that manufacturing is important today in America, and it's going to be important in the future. And in a country with relatively high labor cost, the winning hand is going to be the combination of that engaged workforce with the technology to help make them as competitive as possible.