Asian mercantilism played into it also. We opened our markets to rebuild the Japanese economy after the war, they have never done the same.
Well, somebody had to come along and blame the successful.
If the Soviets had any compassion, they would have implemented a Marshall plan here in the states after they destroyed us in the cold war. We may never recover from this post cold war Marxism without help from our conquerer. We surrender, the USSR won, now help us
Doesn’t help that the quality of American cars slipped badly during the same period...