“We thus need a new superpower initiative in which the United States isn’t just the biggest energy producer in the world, and the biggest food producer and exporter in the world”
Being the world’s biggest exporter in a way that drastically alters the % of the economy attributable to exports, creates an economy more DEPENDENT ON EXPORTS continuing. That puts an economy at risk domestically from disruptions in the economy(ies) exported to. A downturn in the economies buying from you causes pain in your economy relative to how much your GDP is export dependent/derived.
Right now the U.S. does not have THAT problem, as exports make up only about 12% of U.S. GDP.
Producing more for ourselves domestically would be good. Making our economy dependent on exports too much would not be good.
A good place to start would be in the “supply chains” of small manufacturers that make all sorts of stuff that feeds into larger manufacturers. Those companies and industries can be incubators of new ideas, new goods and new businesses. They also make up a big part of our imports. The problem is they too need materials, and the U.S. does always have the materials needed in sufficient quantities domestically. Fixing that raises imports of raw materials. Getting the whole thing fixed is a giant balancing act that private industry itself has to sort out.
Very precisely targeted tariffs can help, if they are that and not (generally speaking) overly broad tariffs. Tariffs vis-a-vis China is a whole nother issue that relates to fixing not merely9 a single problem but the whole U.S.-China economic relationship.
We need an economic council that looks for, and advises, how government can HELP improve the building of U.S. domestic manufacturing without the government trying to command and control it into existence.
“Making our economy dependent on exports too much would not be good.”
indeed ... just look at china ... however, in terms of gross revenue, pharmaceutical exports, even if we supplied a big chunk of the world’s needs, is a drop in the bucket compared to the value of the oil and food that we already export, and yet would have a MUCH greater impact on the balance of U.S. power ...
You said:
“Being the world’s biggest exporter in a way that drastically alters the % of the economy attributable to exports, creates an economy more DEPENDENT ON EXPORTS continuing. That puts an economy at risk domestically from disruptions in the economy(ies) exported to. A downturn in the economies buying from you causes pain in your economy relative to how much your GDP is export dependent/derived.”
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I completely disagree with you.
Completely.
100%