> If exporting jobs is inefficient, let people try to do it and fail - of course they will get outcompeted by the people who aren't exporting jobs, right?
Not if China manipulates currency to overcome the effect.
Fine - let them give the US cheap shit. They're subsidizing American consumers. By the way, the sentence you quoted was rhetorical - I don't actually believe that doing all manufacturing in America is actually productive, profitable, useful or desirable.
Go back and read the first post. Think about what happens if all the manufacturing happens in China.
If they get to the point where they can start designing things there then they have the advantage.
What America should be doing is highly promoting domestic automated manufacturing. Even if it created exactly zero manufacturing jobs, having the factory here would provide a local advantage. Local mills would have a cost advantage because the materials wouldn't have to be shipped halfway across the world and back. Product designers could actually see how their products are being made and improve the process without international air travel, etc.
Not if China manipulates currency to overcome the effect.