Kearney's 2026 Reshoring Index Remains in Negative Territory
Kearney's latest annual Reshoring Index — which tracks the year-over-year change in the U.S. manufacturing import ratio from 14 Asian low-cost countries — improved from -115 to -91 for 2026, but stayed in negative territory, meaning offshoring is still outpacing reshoring on net even as the trend improves. U.S. manufactured-goods imports grew 4.6%, while direct imports from mainland China fell $135 billion, pushing China's share of total U.S. manufacturing imports below 10% (from 20% four years ago) — with much of that volume shifting to Mexico and other Asian countries rather than coming home. A useful counterweight to headline reshoring optimism: tariffs are clearly redirecting where the U.S. imports from, but that is not the same as manufacturing actually returning to U.S. soil.