3 ms·

What about the rest of the stuff we buy, 80% of which is still made in China?

• adventured 7y ago
  80% huh? China is about 24% of global manufacturing. Their share is also no longer increasing (their manufacturing sector has been net stagnant for years, as they tread water; moving up the ladder in some sectors, while cost-sensitive manufacturing flees to cheaper shores like Vietnam). The US is around 18% to 19% of global manufacturing (it was 28% as recently as 2002). China took the global lead in 2010. Other countries are also still very substantial manufacturing centers. Japan, as of 2016, for example still had a manufacturing output equal to 30% that of China (with an economy ~45% the size of China in that year). Germany has an economy 1/5 the size of the US, but it does about 1/3 the manufacturing output of the US. The US + Japan + Germany have a manufacturing output about 25% larger than China. https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42135.pdf https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42135.pdf
  • geoka9 7y ago
    Interesting. I just checked, most of the non-food brand name stuff I buy seems to be made in China. Looking at my last 6 purchases: a Lenovo laptop (China), HP desktop (China), Babolat shoes (China), Penn tennis balls (China), Panasonic rechargeable batteries (China), Fruit of the Loom socks (USA).
    • CharlesColeman 7y ago
      I agree with you, but it may very will be that Chinese manufacturing is over-represented in the high-volume consumer-goods sector. The US/Japan/Germany may have proportionally more of their output in low-volume but massively expensive products, many of which may have little direct consumer exposure.
      • mpwoz 7y ago
        Cars are one example.