You'd be more correct to ponder how the US declined economically after Nixon broke the dollar's link to gold. It's lost 80% of its purchasing power since that happened.
The government's policy of inflation is the root cause of our economic problems.
It doesn't really matter, because all of this "free trade" insanity will end abruptly when the eventual conflict with China over Taiwan erupts. The day the first missile is fired, all of the container ships criss crossing the Pacific will be recalled and left to rust. All the factories owned by western powers in the PRC will be confiscated. And will be LMAO.