Sometimes the people who built them are in China, but not always. But you’re missing that not everything is 100% made in China. There are major manufacturing outsourcers like Jabil (as US electronics manufacturer) who build lines all over the earth and have expertise in doing that globally, as well as in China. The skills required to build manufacturing capabilities haven’t left the US, they’re still here. What’s left is the people on the lines screwing parts together. That’s simply a training exercise.
The manufacturer of vehicles, airplanes, factory automation equipment, high end weapons, medical equipment, and a huge array of high end stuff that requires real expertise and is easily transferable to making forks, is still quite well alive in the US and there are few parallels on earth other than in Europe.
Economic specialization has meant the western countries specialized in extremely high end manufacturing and the engineering and management of low end manufacturing globally. In a crisis the turn around to bring it home would be breathtaking.
The manufacturer of vehicles, airplanes, factory automation equipment, high end weapons, medical equipment, and a huge array of high end stuff that requires real expertise and is easily transferable to making forks, is still quite well alive in the US and there are few parallels on earth other than in Europe.
Economic specialization has meant the western countries specialized in extremely high end manufacturing and the engineering and management of low end manufacturing globally. In a crisis the turn around to bring it home would be breathtaking.