Updates with Trump's arrival in Pennsylvania

By Jarrett Renshaw and Trevor Hunnicutt

LOWER MACUNGIE TOWNSHIP, Pennsylvania, June 23 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the campaign trail for the first time in two weeks on Tuesday, visiting politically divided Pennsylvania to pitch the revival of the U.S. Rust Belt to voters feeling inflation’s bite.

Trump is visiting a Mack Trucks assembly plant owned by Sweden's Volvo Group VOLVb.ST in Lower Macungie Township, Pennsylvania, as he shifts gears from Iran to sell his jobs-and-reindustrialization agenda to factory workers who have formed the base of his "Make America Great Again" political movement.

The president's Republican Party is seeking to retain control of Congress in November's midterm elections. A nearly four-month U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has complicated Trump's economic message, driving consumer costs up at the fastest rate in three years. The U.S. and Iran are negotiating a potential peace deal.

Trump is expected to accentuate the positive, especially a steadily growing U.S. economy, resilient labor market data and the possibility that a future resolution to the war could ease energy costs.

"Under the President’s leadership, key domestic industries are being revitalized, historic investments are pouring back into communities like Macungie, and families across the country are securing new, high-paying jobs," said Liz Huston, a White House spokeswoman.

Since Trump's return to the White House in January 2025, U.S. manufacturing employment has fallen by 68,000 jobs, including more than 17,000 jobs lost in the automotive sector, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data through May. Through early 2026, goods production employment appears to have stabilized, with upticks in four of the last five months.

Production of medium and heavy vehicles, such as those made by Mack, has been trending down. In the year through May, Federal Reserve data show U.S. truck makers produced about 242,000 vehicles per month at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate, the lowest output in more than four years.

Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District, spanning the state's Lehigh Valley, is widely regarded as a toss-up race that either party could win. The district includes Allentown, the subject of a Billy Joel blue-collar anthem, and its economy has retained a strong manufacturing base. Pennsylvania will also be one of the biggest prizes in the 2028 presidential election.

Freshman Republican Congressman Ryan Mackenzie represents the area, which selected former President Joe Biden over Trump in 2020. The district favored Trump over Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024.

In an emailed statement, state Democratic Party Chair Eugene DePasquale tied local Republican candidates, including Mackenzie, to what he called a "costly war of choice that caused gas prices to skyrocket" and "cruel healthcare cuts" pushed by Trump.