Anarchistbear said:
This is a service economy . We don't make that many things anymore
Other developed economies still have decent industrial bases, like Germany (well at least before the Ukraine war), Italy (ditto), Japan and S. Korea.
Incentivizing on-shoring is a positive policy, though I think it is being applied too haphazardly. There needs to be some strategical thinking in its application.
One example is Switzerland and its agricultural policies. They have a 100% tariff on imported strawberries in June and July, when their farmers sell their crop, and zero tariffs the rest of the year when imported strawberries from warmer climates such as Spain or Florida are sold there. That's a smart tariff policy.
Similarly we should tariff products/industries where onshoring can be incentivized within a reasonably short time frame.
