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I think the story "it's not China, it's automation" is fairly recent claim. The big story they quote is the NYT in 2016.

As I remember things, since the 1990s or even 80s, sending manufacturing jobs overseas was the program, with the main justification then being "there will be better jobs in their place". But just in 2016 you had instead "really, it was automation". Now, you complete the cycle with "sure it was China but we were sure it was automation, big woops..."




Indeed. Quoting from link below (February 1, 2000):

> President Clinton claims that the recently signed trade agreement with China “creates a win-win result for both countries” (Clinton 2000, 9). He argues that exports to China “now support hundreds of thousands of American jobs,” and that “these figures can grow substantially with the new access to the Chinese market the WTO agreement creates” (Clinton 2000, 10).

But it then prophetically goes on to argue:

> China’s entry into the WTO, under PNTR with the U.S., will lock this relationship into place, setting the stage for rapidly rising trade deficits in the future that would severely depress employment in manufacturing, the sector most directly affected by trade. China’s accession to the WTO would also increase income inequality in the U.S.

https://www.epi.org/publication/issuebriefs_ib137/




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