Years ago I watched a TV program where a reporter was interviewing an American business owner. This guy owned a company that made door locks for cars.
He said that the Chinese were exporting into the US door locks that cost less than his material costs were alone. They weren’t as good as his locks. But they were good enough.
So to save his company he was going to have to move production to China. And he was darn near crying. Friends and relatives who had worked for him for decades were all going to be out of work.
Free trade, ain’t it great?
/s
Actually, in a very real way, that is just a natural shift. At the end of the day, the US is just another country. Sure, we got rich rebuilding the world after WWII, but they are rebuilt - and now competing with us. Why should an American worker get $25 an hour when someone in another country will do the same work for $6? That is literally what free trade and free enterprise is all about. It just doesn’t feel good when it gores ones particular ox.
There was a reason why the Founders had tariffs as the anticipated primary source of federal revenue.
Well “good enough” is a market-based criteria. If his business was challenged by an offshore producer with a cost advantage, he had several options to choose from. One would have been to make locks for e.g. Mercedes Benz and other premium car makers who do not buy “good enough” but pay premium prices for superior components. Or he could have used his lock-making expertise to make something else, like high security locks that sell for premium prices and thus would not be subject to the same pressures.
Every business in every industry faces similar pressures every day. Most realize that being the cheapest producer of “good enough” products is a race to the bottom where profitability is minimal and customer loyalty is nearly non-existent - they will jump ship in a minute to save a few pennies. The jobs that were lost are not are result of Chinese manufacturers becoming the producers of “good enough” products, but of this business owner failing to pursue a business strategy which would have allowed them to be retained. I can give countless examples of US manufacturers who did that successfully and are thriving.
I saw that too
Tariffs, tariffs, tariffs.