Trading Up

The second tactic in a market-based decoupling strategy should be to weaken China’s comparative advantage in manufacturing and strengthen America’s manufacturing industry by establishing a national moonshot initiative to modernize and automate U.S. factories. There are various manufacturing applications for new technologies, including 5G, sensors, robotics, and artificial intelligence, which, with the right policy support, could significantly improve factory productivity, making it possible for much of the U.S. manufacturing sector to be a competitive alternative to China. But without a national manufacturing automation strategy, this vision will be fruitless.

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