The fact that the "Made in" labels on the majority of what Americans buy list something other than "USA" easily demonstrates that this assertion is ridiculous nonsense.
North Carolina's textile industry didn't disappear from the state because of robots.
North Carolina’s textile industry came from Massachusetts because it was easier and cheaper to exist in the South than unionized Yankee land.
So, North Carolina lost the business for precisely the same reason as it got it in the first place
The basic premise of the article is valid. Technology has increased the productivity of the average worker enormously and made it possible for companies to get more output from fewer workers. Trade agreements have enabled the off shoring of low to medium skilled assembly work to countries where wages are relatively low such as Mexico. My real concern is the notion that the average American will simply retrain to do the higher skilled jobs of the future. These jobs will require cognitive skills and advanced training that exceed the capacity of the average worker. Our society is reaching a point where a small priesthood of technical wizards aided by a cadre of robots and 3rd world sweat shops will be all that is needed to sustain the manufacturing economy in developed countries. What will the vast majority of humans do that do not own/rent the technical means of production to earn a living? Will we just tax production and redistribute wealth as tax credits or reverse income taxes? What are the moral implications of the course we are on?
Would you rather have North Carolinians making tee shirts or cars?
You can shut down trade and keep the textile mills, but you won't have the BMWs.