A bit of a case study: I remember when Caterpillar moved its head office in Asia from Japan to China. They saw the future and moved from the fast growing market that was Japan, to an even faster growing one in China.
Caterpillar has manufacturing facilities across the globe, several in China. Other main plants exist in Japan, Thailand, Mexico, Brazil and the UK. The very large dozers, off-highway trucks and such are still made in the USA, but that's it. If you're driving along and see a Caterpillar, it's highly unlikely to be a machine made in the USA. To see those, you have to be on a mine site, or very large construction site, well away from the gaze of ordinary folk.
Given the direction things are headed, how is Caterpillar going to service its customers in the US? All of the main manufacturing bases are now behind Donald Trump's paywall. And it gets worse, all of the parts supply comes from China as I understand it. No matter where the machine is made, parts come from China. With huge tariffs in place, it will become impossible for American contractors to repair their equipment. They'll be forced to use after-market knock-off parts suppliers.
Here's a list of Caterpillar locations: https://www.caterpillar.com/en/company/global-footprint.html
These facilities cannot be relocated easily. And why would Caterpillar even want to, seeing as most of their machines exist outside of the US?
And this problem isn't just reserved for the one brand. Imagine the scale of the problem across all industry in America. Basically, the task of relocating is so big, it could wreck the economy.
[ Edit: Caterpillar has applied for various waivers, we'll have to see how this develops]
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