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If it was not China it would be somewhere else. Low cost labor will always be the key to unskilled manufacturing. If that same product can be made in the US it would be. Also, many products are made overseas because of the lack of regulatory agencies like OSHA and the EPA. If some Chinese worker dies of cancer at age 42 from working in a factory with dangerous materials, they do not get to sue Apple or Moen, etc.

Cheap natural gas is bringing back some manufacturing to Ohio, PA, WV, etc. There is always a freight consideration when purchasing a product delivered to its final destination. If it is too expensive to ship steel from South Korea to Pa for a job, they will not get the business. This has led to more steel manufacturing being done in the US and Canada.

Another example currently happening. Calcium Chloride is primarily produced by Occidental Chemical under the brand name Dow Flake or Dow Pellet. It is used for melting ice at temperatures lower than (-10F).It is a big seller in the northern part of the US and Canada in the winter. It can not be bought this year because Ox Chem can get more money for Calcium Chloride from the oil/gas industry where it is used in the fracking of wells. Therefore, we are looking for suppliers from overseas to import Calcium Chloride to the US. The other major manufactures in the world are in China.