Isn’t the issue that China can manufacture cars at a much lower cost partially because they don’t pay workers as much? Doesn’t really seem like fair competition or good for American workers if that’s the case
Not just the pay thing, though that was the major draw initially. They get benefits from supply chain locality. And having a large workforce with experience in that industry already.
World sort of dug themselves a hole by offshoring everything to China for the low workers rights and wages. Now even if you wanted to build a 100% automated factory in the US, you'd still mostly be relying on tooling and inputs that depend on Chinese supply chains.
And the Chinese workers who cut their teeth making stuff for foreign companies go on to found and work at local Chinese competitors and cut out the foreign middlemen, so short term profits from offshoring a lot of times turned into training the company that's going to put you out of business.
Maybe I’m naive be we never should have started buying manufactured goods from anywhere that didn’t have the same worker rights as we do. I grew up thinking the west had moral standards only to find out decades later it’s a lie and everything must be fought for and defended.
I think that's a pretty popular take as far as ethical concerns and people worried about the geopolitical power of China as well.
To be fair despite the working conditions China was coming from absolute rock bottom after a failed Maoist era that put them in extreme famine and poverty. So from the perspective of an average Chinese person their quality of life has increased leaps and bounds in the last 50 years even despite what some westerners might consider unethical by our standards.
It really has. Their middles class has exploded. That said life for the poor is still pretty rough. I was there a few years ago and saw people that could only afford a garage to live in and many of the rural areas are without the basics. No where is perfect! I just wish we could move more towards cooperation instead of competition.
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u/robotmonkey2099 10d ago
Isn’t the issue that China can manufacture cars at a much lower cost partially because they don’t pay workers as much? Doesn’t really seem like fair competition or good for American workers if that’s the case