I disagree that automation was the main opposition narrative about why manufacturing jobs were declining. The dominant line among folks I knew was that America

I disagree that automation was the main opposition narrative about why manufacturing jobs were declining. The dominant line among folks I knew was that Americans didn't want to put up with the lifestyle offered by, say, Foxconn China (which produced a suicides alongside iPhones). That's consistent with "losing jobs to foreign competition", but hardly and argument for moving that capacity back to the States. Note: I personally think there is amazing innovation around production happening elsewhere in the world, besides low wages. That's something I would like to see happening more in the USA. But I doubt it is as significant as cheap labor in moving manufacturing abroad.