Careful - that something happened in the past is no guarantee it'll happen again, especially if conditions change. > wherever costs are lowest -- labor, raw ma

Careful - that something happened in the past is no guarantee it'll happen again, especially if conditions change. > wherever costs are lowest -- labor, raw materials, power, regulations, shipping. Due to automation, labor costs will be less and less of a factor. Ocean shipping is already very cheap, and comprises a negligible fraction of the cost of most products - it's how markets in Europe are full of Chinese garlic. Raw materials can be shipped, so those are also not much of a factor. That leaves only power and regulations as factors. A smart country is likely to make sure those don't work against it, and to outsource only the most environmentally-harmful production steps. There are still tariffs, but being willing to host polluting industries is otherwise dangerously close to being the only advantage an under-developed country has left.