Uuhh.., is this a rhetorical question?
If the Chinese can do something like this for a fraction of the cost in the U.S., it just might have something to do with the fact that they are not hampered by an EPA, OSHA, Federal Employment Standards, an "environmental wacko movement", obstinate labor Unions, and greedy subcontractors.
And they won't need all those silly safety devices, either!
To a degree, you are correct. However, there are certain R&D excemptions. However, in chemistry for example, new chemicals must be TOSCA listed if used in a production environment. Hence, new materials may be invented or discovered in the U.S., but to get around toxicity testing, they are manufactured overseas and the finish product is imported here. In the industry where I work, most of the new materials are coming from Japan. None have been invented in the U.S. in the last 5 years. The stuff gets invented there, and we develop the product here.