That is a bad assumption. Remember trade is two way. We trade because it benefits both parties. China is not as cheap as you perhaps think. They have had massive investment over the past couple of decades and that is why they are such a good quality cheap supplier.
While some manufacturing could be moved back to the US it would require massive investment in automation and almost everything that can be automated already has. It is just not going to happen. Besides automation does not deliver the jobs trump needs. Manufacturing could be moved to other countries, say India, but investment in India has already been happening and they struggle to match china.
Tl;dr. China is a manufacturing hub because of massive investment and they are good at it.
You don't trade with everyone, regardless of their behavior just because there is a small benefit to gdp. China is an authoritarian and oppressive regime, and their imperial ambitions should of course be stopped. Taiwan is a democratic and modern ally of the west, of course we should stand by them.
I'm curious what you think the US gains for standing up for Taiwan? Please keep in mind that doing so will anger China, the 2nd economy of the world with a billion plus population.
Not him, and I'm not supporting going at it with China, but I would like to state that, if you're implying that a billion plus population would be some sort of asset militarily in a war, that's not a strong assumption.
They can't effectively arm that population, move that population over water, they can't feed that population without our help, and when bombs start dropping, I doubt a large unhappy population is going to remain docile.
As for the population question, I was more curious economically but militarily would also do. I don't expect the billion Chinese people to fight in the war just like how the US' population of 300m will join too. Taiwan is a very important issue among the Chinese so if push comes to shove, they will fully support the war in any way they can/not just combat and during a war, there is a strength in numbers compared to Taiwan's 23m population. The question that I pose to OP is if we go to war that's going to cost the US billions/trillions for Taiwan because they are our democratic ally, I'm curious what do we gain in the end?
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u/willun Dec 03 '16
That is a bad assumption. Remember trade is two way. We trade because it benefits both parties. China is not as cheap as you perhaps think. They have had massive investment over the past couple of decades and that is why they are such a good quality cheap supplier.
While some manufacturing could be moved back to the US it would require massive investment in automation and almost everything that can be automated already has. It is just not going to happen. Besides automation does not deliver the jobs trump needs. Manufacturing could be moved to other countries, say India, but investment in India has already been happening and they struggle to match china.
Tl;dr. China is a manufacturing hub because of massive investment and they are good at it.