James Stuber, Contributor, The American Dossier
Editor's Note_- Part 4 of a 4 part Series
In the previous post in this series I described the hidden cost Americans pay in the form of defense spending to match the military buildup China is financing with dollars we send them for “low” priced goods.
There is another unacknowledged cost of the current U.S.-China trade relationship – American dependence on China for items essential to our national security, including materials, equipment, and medicines essential for both military and civilian purposes.
In October of 2018, the U.S. Department of Defense issued its alarming assessment of the U.S. Manufacturing and Defense Industrial Base. Citing “fragile suppliers near bankruptcy and entire industries near domestic extinction,” the report singled out China’s use of “legal and illicit means . . . to acquire . . . critical technologies,” and said China’s “actions seriously threaten other capabilities, including machine tools; the production and processing of advanced materials like biomaterials, ceramics and composites; and the production of printed circuit boards and semiconductors."
Tariffs can help reverse these trends by incentivizing the reshoring of production to the U.S. -- the Reshoring Initiative reports that in 2018, a record 1,389 companies brought production back to the U.S., creating 145,000 jobs [
]. And a study by economists at the Coalition for a Prosperous America concluded that an across-the-board 25 percent tariff on Chinese goods would create one million jobs over five years. [
].
America’s dependence on China for critical materials and medicines is untenable; tariffs can be an important tool in restoring an independent American industrial base, creating millions of jobs in the process.
Jim Stuber is the founder of a non-profit organization called "Made in America Again" ("MIAA"). MIAA's mission is to create awareness and build healthy American communities by encouraging consumers to buy things made in those communities.
His goal is for MIAA is to generate $500 billion in consumer spending, enough to balance trade, create six million jobs, take the slack out of the economy and get a virtuous circle going again.
Jim has kindly agreed to share his insights with The American Dossier from time to time.
For more information please visit:
www.madeinamericaagain.org