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Onshoring is really directed at goods that some other country might use an economic weapon by restricting supply. 99% of stuff doesn't fall into this category.
by IMSAI8080 4y ago
Onshoring is really directed at goods that some other country might use an economic weapon by restricting supply. 99% of stuff doesn't fall into this category. No one cares if coffee mugs and pens are made in China. So you wont see rises there. It's not really the end of globalization for the vast majority of stuff. Of the stuff that remains, you have to consider what fraction of the value chain is actually going to a "problem" country. Often it's the final assembly. On a mobile phone that might be $10 of the store price. So manufactured in a more expensive low wage country at $15, you probably won't notice. Some of the chips in a phone are not made by TSMC but are made in South Korea, so probably no change there. Apple's A16 chip is particularly expensive and maybe costs $100 to make. So based on that TSMC quote, that's an extra $50, but they sell the phone at more than $1000. That article also seems to imply that some of that added cost is insufficient worker availability causing expensive training costs. That may change if there's a steady supply of jobs available. It is possible to make low cost electronics in high wage countries. The Raspberry Pi is made in Wales.