Someone still needs to turn those American soybeans into tofu. Either you import the tofu or you import the tofu maker. Just as with those Honda engines, it's

Someone still needs to turn those American soybeans into tofu. Either you import the tofu or you import the tofu maker. Just as with those Honda engines, it's easier to start by rerouting some of the output of an existing factory than having to stand up a whole new factory from scratch. It might very well turn out that for most of these regional specialty tofus, there's not enough demand in America to make local production economically viable, but there could still be a niche for a specialized tofu importer that can provide small quantities of many different varieties.