It is really a matter of survival anymore, Dave, in my opinion. In order for our products to be competitive with those of the rest of the world, so that we do have a large number of good jobs, we have to sell a lot of those products (economies of scale) and that means our businesses need to offer their products at a competitive price with the rest of the world too. If we don't sell in the rest of the world, we will not have high volumes that bring down costs. Our automakers would not survive if they were not world companies because:
1. The volumes would be too low because our prices would be too high,
2. There are not enough buyers in just the U.S. to keep them afloat and
3. We couldn't even then invest in new products since we wouldn't have enough profits to invest with.
If we set up tariffs in the U.S. to exclude other countries from selling to us, because their products would cost too much for us to buy, then they will retaliate and do the same. This leads to trade wars where any business planning is all but impossible. It is much wiser to work out all these issues up front in a trade agreement with everyone involved at the table. If we decide not to participate, then we very much risk all the other countries working agreements out that exclude us. So everyone else at the table thrives because there is certainty in running their business and each participant will have greater sales than if they isolated themselves from the rest of the world.
If our auto companies, at least GM and Ford, and you could argue somewhat FCA (Chrysler) is U.S., didn't sell to Europe and China, for example, I doubt they would even be in business anymore. The reality is that it is just too competitive anymore for us to try to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world. We would gradually evolve into another form of Cuba.
China, for example, doesn't yet have all the tehnology we do, but they are learning and catching up quickly, but they do have lower wages at least for now. We have survived because our better technology trumps their lower wages (there isn't really a Chinese brand vehicle in the U.S. selling at any measurable volume yet because they don't yet have all the technology). So my view is that for us to at least keep competitive, we need to continue to be among the best in tehnology to offset our higher cost of manufacturing. And that means more and better engineers need to graduate from good universities to keep this going because that is what is happening overseas. So, for example, that is why I support finding a way to make college education much more affordable in the U.S. and not something viewed as out of reach for any middle class family anymore.
I hope that makes some sense. I had to look at all these interactions in my last job of 31 years and a lot more. Each of the auto companies will tell you the same thing because that is what they struggle with every day. And that is why I like Trump's business council. I just hope he listens well and places real trust in his advisors. They are all surivors. Then he will be successful too, and that is good for all of us.
