The problem is cost. We used to buy tooling for Acme Multi-Spindle Screw Machines but the Chinese could produce it for a fraction of the cost. You would have the first set made locally, then send the drawings to China, and pay less than the material cost to have them shipped to your door. In competitive markets, customers hammer you for every penny on a machined item that costs 0.12.
These days not many Screw machine shops left, very few in the USA. Material costs were too high, and the Chinese could make it for 1/10th the cost. To bring it all back is very difficult since even the products that the parts were being made for are no longer manufactured in the USA.
On a tangent, watch Ives speak about trying to build the iPhone in America. When you understand what it takes, you quickly figure out it is impossible. The supply chains make it impossible when none of the 1000's of parts from screws to glue to chips are not manufactured in the USA.
It won't hurt if we try to bring it all back, but it will take the same amount of time and sacrifice China put in to take it. Who thinks our Gov has what it takes to do it?
> It won't hurt if we try to bring it all back, but it will take the same amount of time and sacrifice China put in to take it.
I think this is missing a huge aspect: Chinese workers are very cheap compared to US levels of income ($25k/15k with and without adjusting for purchaising parity!).
Those differences are gonna be paid by the average American, but not only that: Inputs for all those industries are gonna become more expensive than they are (because of retaliatory tariffs), and everything else (retail, restaurants, craftsmen, etc.) is gonna become more expensive, too, because the onshored industries compete for labor (and there is not a lot of unemployment in the first place).
Compare agriculture: Faces similar pressure (wages lower elsewhere), but is harder to offshore (goods expire, food safety)-- the US still pays ~20 billion every year just to prop the sector up (and I recon that is money well spent). But I would not want to spend similar amounts in direct/indirect taxes (i.e. tariffs) on mining, ore refining, metalworks, textile processing, electronics assembly and a dozen others, just to have "more self-sufficiency"- you could maybe make an argument for it in some cases (involving Russia or China), but what is the actual problem with buying some machine-tools from allies like Germany or Japan?
I'm very confident that we are NOT gonna see a large, self-sufficient American manufacturing industry in 4 or 10 years; people may continue with the current approach for a bit, but will realize at some point that the situation is not improving (prices rising faster than wages, as well as government debt and/or median effective tax burden spiraling out of control).
My prediction is that we're either gonna see Trump declare "mission accomplished" at some random point, or reverting on the ~20% average import tariff because of mounting pressure.
In conclusion: It will hurt to try to bring manufacturing back, and there probably won't be much to show for it in the end.
Forget about the entire iPhone. The USA cannot manufacture radios. I'm not joking. All fundamental communication technology (for consumers) is not made here.
I just don’t get what is the long term plan of who is even going to work in these factories. If they completely automate it, then it’s not bringing those jobs back. If they don’t… the median age in the US is 38.5. It’s not 80s when it was like 30. I don’t even think China can do what they did with their current demographics. An average person who will lose their service job won’t be competitive in a factory just because of their physical limits.
These days not many Screw machine shops left, very few in the USA. Material costs were too high, and the Chinese could make it for 1/10th the cost. To bring it all back is very difficult since even the products that the parts were being made for are no longer manufactured in the USA.
On a tangent, watch Ives speak about trying to build the iPhone in America. When you understand what it takes, you quickly figure out it is impossible. The supply chains make it impossible when none of the 1000's of parts from screws to glue to chips are not manufactured in the USA.
It won't hurt if we try to bring it all back, but it will take the same amount of time and sacrifice China put in to take it. Who thinks our Gov has what it takes to do it?