Introduction

Bobby Yip/Reuters

High-tech companies say they can’t afford to build their products in the United States. It’s too expensive, they claim, and there are too few workers with the appropriate training. But since many states were able to get Japanese car companies to build here, and Brazil was able to attract plants for iPhones and other products, could the United States get, or keep, more high-tech manufacturing? Google is trying.

What policies, if any, should the United States pursue to encourage high-tech manufacturers like Apple to build their products in America rather than largely in Asia? Is this manufacturing worth going after? Are there lessons to be learned from the trade negotiation tactics the United States used with Japan in the 1980s, when the Japanese began building more goods, especially cars, in the United States?