[roland_nilsson]

Well I'm no economist, but this seems inevitable if (1) consumers want cheap products and (2) production is cheaper elsewhere. Given those conditions, any company that wants to survive will have to move production abroad (and those that do not will quickly be replaced).

So if we want to keep domestic production, either consumers need to voluntarily choose more expensive alternatives -- which seems unlikely to happen -- or we have to put tariffs or other restrictions on import of goods. The EU does this for a variety of agricultural products to protect farming, for example.

Or is there another way out?

[m463]

Computer controlled manufacturing, robotics, and other forms of automation, like Elon Musk's gigafactories.

I don't know the reality of the gigafactories though:

- how many "corner cases" are handled by humans

- would it (un)scale for things with smaller production numbers?

[roland_nilsson]

Increasing automation to push prices might keep the factories within the country, but it won't save manufacturing jobs.