As the Salon article notes, those reasons exist both in China and in the U.S. To be sure China is the main villain, but American firms are willing accomplices.
Author Michael Lind argues that the U.S. is in a trade war instigated by China but being "fought" almost entirely by them, while the U.S. refuses to defend itself. This sounds like it could be true; it is at least worth considering.
China does all sorts of internal shifts of resources to pursue this trade war. These shifts would be either difficult or impossible in the U.S.
Those who oppose countering the Chinese moves argue that their economic juggling will result in an economic melt-down for China, probably sooner rather than later. One choice is to wait and watch it happen, as it did in Japan; this appears to be the choice the U.S. has taken.
As we noted on Friday, creating a U.S. workplace in which workers of middling skills can find acceptable employment seems to be in our national interest. We have citizens whose so-so capabilities fit such jobs and, when the jobs go away, their former occupants do not magically disappear.
Rather they end up on the dole, which is neither good for them nor for us who continue to work and support them with our taxes. That is the argument for not following the "watch and wait" strategy.
