[jmesserly]

This is a common misconception. The US is the world's largest manufacturer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_United_States#Ma...

Now, it's true that as a percent of GDP, China is the largest manufacturer. But per capita it is either Japan or Germany (depending on which charts I was looking at), with US not far behind.

(Unfortunately as the world's largest national economy, a beggar-thy-neighbor export policy doesn't work so well for us.)