Except, the price difference will be more like $1 for the Chinese product & $20-40 for the American product. The Chinese have tremendous scale that no one else can really compete with. Some factory floors have rows of thousands of workers assembling just one stuff. Maybe pressing irons, kitchen utensils, knives, etc. Their wages are significantly lower, so you just can't compete.

There's a video on YouTube now of a manufacturer that tried to onshore his grill scrubber product. Couldn't find the components, no matter how he tried, and ended up subsisting with Indian parts, probably laundered from China, with a complementary markup of course.

The way Americans talk about these tariffs show you don't know what it takes to build a strong manufacturing economy. For decades, China has suppressed their workers' wages, diluting their wealth to transfer it to Western buyers as cheap good. They've invested in scale, building factories worth hundreds of billions, which often don't make profits for years on end.

In America, every CEO has to show a stock bump by the end of the quarter of get tossed.

If you take the logic of tariffs to their natural conclusion, why not farm your own corn, raise your own beef, pick your cotton, etc. Specialization is the reason why we can enjoy abundance because things get made where it's cheapest and then get shipped to you. The average American waiting tables at a restaurant makes more than the Chinese working the manufacturing jobs you're trying to get back, and I'm supposed to feel sorry for them?

In summary, America doesn't know what it's doing. Those of us who come from countries who put excessive tariffs on everything, know that it never leads to local production, but serves as just another government revenue channel. But what do I know?

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throwawaylaptop 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

We do make our own beef and our own corn. But beyond that, even at my house we make our own lemons (2 trees), tomatoes (60 plants), grapefruits (6 trees), and then process and freeze enough to last as long as possible. Because the stuff you can buy in stores is a fraction of the quality you get from home if you know what you're doing.

If only this specialization was focused on making good products instead of making 3% more money.

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churchill 2 days ago | parent [-]

So, is it feasible for all Americans families to grow their own food like you do?

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throwawaylaptop 2 days ago | parent [-]

Maybe not, but it's a good goal and if someone implemented a plan to make it more common I would be for it.

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churchill 2 days ago | parent [-]

Americans willingly stopped farming their own food because it's more economical for farmers to grow in bulk and sell for a little profit. The only way to make more people farm their food would be by government compulsion.

Why would you want that?

And any time they spend growing their own food is time they don't spend on some other economic activity they're obviously better at.

	▲	throwawaylaptop a day ago \| parent [-]
		Why would we want that? Because the food is substantially better quality and healthier. And the time? We do this in our spare time outside of full time jobs. But you're right, it does cut into our Netflix, tv, YouTube, Facebook time.

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epolanski 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Most Chinese manufacturing is done by robots. China is by far the biggest installer of robots in industry too. They install more than the entire world combined.