[simonh]

They aren’t slaves, they’re just people extremely happy to get a wage of $10k per year, which would be unobtainable for most of them any other way. The fact that this means they under cut US manufacturing wages by more than half isn’t really their fault.

As for bringing back manufacturing home, you need to find two things to make that work. First massive subsidies and tariffs to drive up the cost of foreign imports, imposing huge costs on tax payers and consumers; and tens of millions of people willing to work in factories. The US long term unemployment rate in 2019 was about a third of a percent. Where are you going to find the money, and where are you going to find the people?

[pnutjam]

I say taxes aren't necessary. Just hold companies accountable for every step in their manufacturing chain. They need to audit and ensure factories address meeting or standards for the workers.

I don't mean wages, I mean safety, overtime, etc. Labor needs to be valued at home and abroad.

[simonh]

I'm all for holding companies accountable for their supply chain management, but within reason. I can't see the US government accepting EU employment contract, health, safety and business practices imposed on the US arbitrarily. There has to be some flexibility. Let's be clear, the west has reaped _staggering_ economic benefits from opening up China. Of course there have been costs too, some of them painful, but that's always the way with economic change.

[pnutjam]

It's not the other country accepting, it's ensuring the company adheres to certain standards in it's supply chain. Any penalties would be assessed against the US based company.

[onepointsixC]

He's not referring to all Chinese laborers, but Uyghurs who were first sent to re-edcation camps and then sent off to factories all against their will.

[simonh]

A reprehensible and horrific crime for sure, which I don’t want to trivialise, but not an economically consequential one in the grand scheme of things.