[Toddsterpatriot]

Ping.

[Brilliant]

The cost of labor appears low because the dollar is being artificially suppressed by foreigners who keep shipping goods to America, despite the fact that it's not economical to do so.

[Ditto]

Just think of how much more export business we could have if we went to a National Sales Tax! With our ultra high productivity, we would be among the lowest cost manufacturing countries on earth if US manufacturers could produce for export tax free.

Those who want to see the US remain a manufacturing power need to get on the NRST bandwagon.

[ConservativeMind]

This is how free markets work.

And it is indicative of why we need to encourage them.

[RightWhale]

There was a time when American products were both inexpensive and excellent. They might still be excellent, but what happened to the inexpensive part?

[Jibaholic]

A few points:

1. America really shouldn't be in the business of manufacturing low profit-margin commodities. Lets leave that to second-tier countries like South Korea and China.
2. The trade deficit was never an issue anyways. The days of the gold standard ended a long time ago, no wealth is leaving the country.

[Alberta's Child]

And finally, there's the practical consideration that some Japanese models -- such as the Quest -- aren't even built in Japan. To sell them in China, you need to ship them from where they are built. Here.

Producing cars on two continents and shipping them both ways makes a heck of a lot of sense when you factor in the logistics of moving them from the point of manufacturing to the point of sale. If an auto manufacturer were to produce all their cars in Asia and ship a large number of them to the U.S., they would pay a higher shipping cost because the cost would have to include an empty return trip for a large ocean-going vessel.

A better scenario would be to produce a bunch of Model A vehicles in Asia, and a bunch of Model B vehicles in North America. A bunch of the Model A units from Asia would be transported for sale in North America, and a bunch of the Model B units from North America would be transported for sale in Asia on the same vessels that brought the Model A units from Asia.