[jdk354]

Its likely that if many things were made in the US, they would be too expensive for most people to afford, a smartphone might cost $5000. The US could re-industrialize but it takes a lot of robotics due to high labor costs in the US.

[lumost]

My understanding is that robotics were being heavily developed in the US in the 80s/90s to improve costs. Then outsourcing took the wind out of the sails for robotics.

Maybe the tech was to far out, or maybe we would have had vastly more advanced industrial robots.