Time to delink china. If the west really needs “cheap” labour then east europe would be more than happy to cover the gap - albeit more expensive than india or china, but the quality will be better. Also wouldn't harm to bring some manufacturing back to western countries. These bullies will one day consume us with our own money if not. No tariffs, just quiet, sustained, investment and subsidies where needed.
We go for skills and manufacturing capacity & capability.
China has advanced so dramatically and the population so vast that they've essentially overtaken the West in nearly every category.
I think it was Tim Cook who said, when asked why the iPhone is made in China, that for every one American with the necessary engineering skills you could fill an entire football stadium with Chinese engineers.
We barely make anything ourselves in the West. At this point we're just shells of our former selves, totally dependent on China and to a lesser extent other countries.
Virtually everything has "Made in China" written on it, from your iPhone to that not-so-great random gadget you bought on Amazon.
Meanwhile we're perpetually distracted by inane nonsense fads/infighting and dimwitted celebrity bullshit.
The World is Made in China, we're just along for the ride.
Tim Cook and many CEO types are great at selling their reasons to outsource. Since most advanced tech is designed in the US it looks like stadiums with chinese engineers can be replaced by factories with robots and highly trained operators - i think we arent doing it simply because its easier to hire loads of cheap engineers without rights and demands. The alternative is to sit and wait until Xi is replaced by a maniac like putin, but with actual monetary resources, know how and self-sufficiency. Maybe this should be a turning point. I am happy that china is developing but our reliance on them puts us at great risk.
