Clothing is how it starts. Not all that long ago Thailand was 'just clothing factories' and now they make a substantial chunk of the tech goodies shipped worldwide.
Not all that long ago, China could make clothing, basic machinery and some consumer goods that were not too capital intensive.
It's an incremental process.
> Just how much do you think they cared about destroying US industry in the process?
Not a whole lot. But then again, that's their prerogative under the system you have in place. If someone wanted to keep the jobs local and to exclusively source their half-fabricates from local producers under exclusive contract stating that they were required to maintain this all the way up their supply chain then such a person might have cornered the market against those willing to sell out your countries manufacturing backbone.
The most likely outcome of such a plan would have been bankruptcy. It's an arms race and everybody that buys 'made in China' stuff because it is slightly cheaper is complicit.
Thailand and South Korea used to be on roughly the same economic level in the 1970s. South Korea embraced protectionism. Thailand did not. One is a developed first world country and the other is a sex tourism destination.
It is indeed an incremental process. An incremental process some countries never begin.
>that's their prerogative
Why is it the prerogative of American elites to set trade policy that benefits them and fucks the rest of us over?
Not all that long ago, China could make clothing, basic machinery and some consumer goods that were not too capital intensive.
It's an incremental process.
> Just how much do you think they cared about destroying US industry in the process?
Not a whole lot. But then again, that's their prerogative under the system you have in place. If someone wanted to keep the jobs local and to exclusively source their half-fabricates from local producers under exclusive contract stating that they were required to maintain this all the way up their supply chain then such a person might have cornered the market against those willing to sell out your countries manufacturing backbone.
The most likely outcome of such a plan would have been bankruptcy. It's an arms race and everybody that buys 'made in China' stuff because it is slightly cheaper is complicit.