The United States began to call on manufacturing to return to its country very early. After the financial crisis in 2008, the then-US president, Obama , realized the importance of manufacturing and began to call on manufacturing to return to the United States. For this reason, a series of policies have been introduced, such as the "Framework for Revitalizing the US Manufacturing" announced in 2009, the "Advanced Manufacturing Partnership Plan" launched in 2011, and the "National Strategic Plan for Advanced Manufacturing" formulated in 2012. Due to the strong policy intensity, many companies still choose to return to the United States. In 2010, 16 companies returned, 64 companies in 2011, and soared to 210 companies in 2013, and has since increased year by year. However, the labor cost of in the United States is too high, many companies still refuse to return. Obama also knows this economic law, so he just lets more companies return as much as possible, but did not take tough measures.
After Trump came to power, he immediately took more radical measures to call for the return of manufacturing industry, such as modifying the tax law to reduce taxes and fees for American companies, and even threatening some companies to move back to the United States, otherwise administrative means would be used to suppress them. To let companies return to the United States, the problem of labor costs cannot be avoided. The companies that go back are either high-tech companies and don’t care that the labor costs in the United States are higher than those in other countries, or they will not lose money after returning to government subsidies. At that time, Trump The government gave a lot of subsidies to enterprises. Many people believe that once these subsidies are reduced or stopped, it will be difficult for these companies to survive and move out of the United States again. Therefore, no one is worried about the so-called manufacturing return in the United States, because this kind of anti-globalization and market laws will definitely be difficult to persist in the short-term effective and long-term, let alone success. So the question is, why did Trump stubbornly let American companies return to the United States regardless of economic laws? This is also one of the topics we are going to talk about today.
Everyone knows that the biggest reason for manufacturing to move out of their country is the rise in labor costs. The biggest resistance to getting them back is also the high labor costs. Because with the development of the economy, wage levels will definitely increase, and labor costs will naturally increase. In the past, this could not be solved at all, so it is said to be an economic law. However, with the rise of 5G+AI, this market law will be broken, because this marks the arrival of the era of intelligence. With the support of 5G and AI, many industries will undergo disruptive innovations, so this also gives latecomers the opportunity to overtake, which is an opportunity for any country in the world. After entering the era of intelligence, many automated factories can now be upgraded and transformed into intelligent factories, which will replace more workers, which means that labor costs will be greatly reduced. Let’s give an ideal example. For example, a factory has a production line that used to require 1,000 people, but now an intelligent production line has been established, all of which are robots. The factory investment in the early stage is very high because it needs to upgrade the production line, but in the long run, the cost is much lower.
And after intelligent production, robots waste less materials, and can save more costs. They work 24 hours a day without stopping, and will not get sick and leave like workers, and will not protest against the low wages. Therefore, its labor efficiency will be increased several times or even dozens of times on the basis of now. Therefore, the advent of the new technology of intelligence means that the United States can bring back the manufacturing industry, because the high labor costs will no longer be a hindrance, so they can completely return to the United States. Moreover, intelligence has many advantages. For example, the entire industrial chain has popularized intelligence. From raw material processing, manufacturing of various parts to final assembly and production, all costs have been greatly reduced, and labor productivity has also been greatly improved. Then the competitiveness of the entire American manufacturing industry will be greatly improved. This is just like the industrial revolution that started with . Labor costs have reduced production efficiency but greatly improved. The countries that were the first to enter this era will make huge profits. Therefore, many industrial powers are proposing to develop Industry 4.0, that is, to enter the era of intelligence.
Don’t understand automation as intelligence. Intelligence is much more advanced. It is not just a problem of improving productivity. It can also solve many current problems that restrict us, such as energy conservation and emission reduction, garbage recycling, etc. For example, Company A produces a large number of goods, and requires a large number of cars to transport goods to cities 1,000 kilometers away every month. If people come to drive, they have to rest, eat, sleep, etc. in the middle of the journey. If the car consumes 20 fuel per 100 kilometers. After the intelligent era, all of these vehicles are unmanned. They can control the accelerator and speed in advance according to real-time road conditions, minimize sudden braking, stomping on the accelerator, etc., and even directly control the accelerator in advance to operate at the most economical speed, which can save more fuel. It may only take 18 fuel or even 15 fuel per 100 kilometers. If it is enlarged to the entire country, it can save a lot of energy every year, which is the same in the production field. To give a simple example, sprinkler trucks often spray water to clean the road surface. If the era of intelligence comes, sprinkler trucks will directly analyze the road surface garbage and find out how much water is needed and how much pressure it is to flush it out, and it will never waste a lot of water like humans. For example, garbage recycling. With intelligent technology, more garbage can be classified more carefully and then processed, recycled and reused separately, which will save a lot of resources. Of course, the progress brought by the entire era of intelligence is not limited to this, but these must be greatly reduced after the intelligent technology is quite mature, labor costs, raw material costs, transportation costs, etc. in all industries.
When Trump first started to promote the return of manufacturing, like Obama, he was just to fulfill his promise and perhaps to solve more employment problems. He did not have a strong desire to intervene. However, as China , Huawei continues to promote the importance of 5G, countries have also continuously emphasized the advantages of the intelligent era, which has caused a crisis in the United States, because this may make the United States lose its voice in the global industrial chain. Rumor has it that the top American think tank team advised Trump that intelligence can solve the problem of high labor costs in the United States, and making the return of manufacturing industry no longer a dream. Therefore, Trump decided to force the return of manufacturing industry, so that the United States can maintain its advantage in the long run. Think back to the Steam Age, Britain seized the opportunity to become the Empire of the Sun. If you want to be smart, you must have 5G support. The most important thing is that you cannot do without cutting-edge chips. Therefore, the United States forces Samsung and TSMC to set up factories in the United States to control the global chip industry in its own hands, because without the support of high-end chips, all intelligence is just a matter of paper.
So the question is, can the era of intelligence really bring back the US manufacturing industry? Of course, it is OK if other factors are not considered, because the United States has advantages in the AI field in the 5G field. With mature robot technology and deep industrial technological background, it is not difficult to quickly enter the era of intelligence. Although it may face various problems in the early stage, with the popularity of large-scale, various problems will be continuously optimized and the cost of various equipment will also drop significantly. But this is an ideal situation. In the past, the primary reason for restricting the return of US manufacturing was high labor costs, and secondly, environmental protection issues. This is also the reason why Trump resolutely withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement. Trump did this at that time to clear the obstacles to the popularization of intelligence in the United States in the future, because whether it is automation or intelligence, it is inevitable to sacrifice the environment, but more advanced technologies pollute the environment a little smaller. However, the United States calls for the return of manufacturing not all industries, but selectively. Although Trump has done so much, luck has made people feel bad. The epidemic disrupted his plan. Later, Biden took office in and then returned to the Paris climate agreement. However, Biden still insisted on returning to the United States in manufacturing. The high-tech blockade did not regress, but continued to increase its investment, and also realized that intelligence is about to bring a great opportunity to the world.
Why did Biden return to the Paris climate agreement? Because Biden found that the United States wants to make it intelligent alone, many countries around the world are promoting intelligence, such as Germany, China, etc., and everyone has their own advantages and disadvantages. For example, the EU represented by Germany is very slow to promote internal disunity, and the strength of doing it alone is too weak. However, the EU has a deep industrial heritage and chips will not be choked. China's industry is sound and large in scale, high efficiency and unity. Whether it is chips or industrial heritage, they lag behind Europe and the United States, but they are relatively strong in the field of AI, and the United States are relatively strong in chips and AI, but they are not united internally and have environmental protection and other obstacles. In addition to these, the United States has one biggest shortcoming, that is, its own and surrounding markets are too small, so it must rely on the EU, the big market. Not only is the internal market of China and Europe large enough, but the key is that neighboring countries are also in the radiation range, and the combined markets are even larger. So now it depends on who solves their respective obstacles first, so you can enter the era of intelligence first and occupy a place in the global supply chain. It can be foreseeable that the United States, China and Europe may enter the era of intelligence at the same time. So whoever has a larger market will improve faster and the future advantages will be more obvious. Therefore, Biden can only make the United States lose some of its interests and please the EU in exchange for this market. The most important point is that the United States is small in size and has not established a full industrial chain, so the EU needs to cooperate to make up for its shortcomings, so that there is a scale effect and mass effect. Therefore, Biden had to compromise and return to the Paris Climate Agreement. In turn, he thought about it. Now the EU is constantly promoting the carbon tariff and environmental protection issues. In addition to preventing other countries from growing into industrial countries, there is another purpose to restrict the United States. The EU is engaged in intelligence because of internal disunity, and its progress may lag behind China and the United States. Therefore, the EU moved out environmental protection issues to trap the United States, which is to slow down the speed of the United States entering the era of intelligence. Europe actually has a better understanding of this. After all, this is how they competed in the Steam Age, and they understand the huge benefits of being the first to enter.
Some people may say that intelligence will make many positions disappear, which will aggravate social conflicts. Will Americans agree? There is actually an answer to this point. In the past, the epidemic was so serious. At the peak, tens of millions of people in the United States were unemployed. Isn’t the United States still alive? The solution to the United States is very simple, that is, to directly send money to the public. Don’t you think this is the future scenario of common prosperity for ? After the intelligence reaches a very high level in the future, most labor production will be replaced by robots. They produce goods to create profits, and then humans can eat, drink and have fun all day long. If they have no money, the country will pay for it, and even don’t have money. You can just go to an unmanned supermarket to get whatever you need, because there are a large number of robots that produce everything we need for. That was the real common prosperity.
To sum up, the era of intelligence is an opportunity for China, and it is also an opportunity for more countries such as the EU, the United States and other countries. Solving everyone’s aging problem in the short term is a good opportunity for all countries to enter common prosperity in the long run.
