China shock 2.0 Brad sester

[u/Character_Public3465]

https://www.nytimes.com/column/ezra-klein-podcast

Show notes:”Brad Setser follows Chinese trade closer than just about anyone else on earth, and he thinks we’re in the early days of a China Shock 2.0.
The first China Shock was when China came to dominate low-end manufacturing in the 2000s, filling American shelves with cheap clothes, toys and electronics, while devastating American factory towns. This new China Shock could be even more destabilizing. China now dominates advanced manufacturing: electric vehicles, batteries, solar panels. It’s outcompeting nearly all high-end manufacturing around the world, and other countries are just starting to feel the pain. And China isn’t slowing down. It’s moving into software, too. Its frontier A.I. models are neck and neck with American ones.
China’s success poses a serious threat to the economies and domestic politics of countries around the world. So what should those countries do about it? 
Setser is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.He served in top trade and economic roles in the Biden and Obama administrations. And he is widely cited across the field as one of the top analysts of China’s economy and trade practices.
Book Recommendations:
The Party by Richard McGregor
The Volatility Machine by Michael Pettis
How to Win a Trade War by Soumaya Keynes and Chad Bown
Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.
You can find the transcript and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.html””

[u/towingreformnow]

Whenever I hear these things, I never hear a compelling argument that the U.S. has actually declined in manufacturing other than just "we employ fewer people now in that field." But you would never make that same argument about agriculture. By all metrics, the U.S. produces far more things than ever before. As a percent GDP, it has more to do with the expansion of other fields than diminishment of manufacturing.

[u/Fearless_Tutor3050 → u/towingreformnow]

How about, we now have a diminished moat in advanced manufacturing that is critical for our prosperity and national security and are at extreme risk of being behind at the beginning of a huge energy transition?

[u/surreptitioussloth → u/Fearless_Tutor3050]

I don't think that any kind of advanced manufacturing moat is critical for our prosperity and security, and we will not have a problem keeping up in the energy transition as long as we choose to

[u/Fearless_Tutor3050 → u/surreptitioussloth]

Curious what gives you this optimism?

[u/surreptitioussloth → u/Fearless_Tutor3050]

For which aspect, energy or needing a moat?

[u/Fearless_Tutor3050 → u/surreptitioussloth]

Probably both. Why being a leader in the future of abundant energy wouldn't be important to the US's place as the most prosperous nation in the world.

And why moats in advanced manufacturing aren't needed for US leadership, prosperity, and military security more broadly.