alt Hacker News...in part because fierce domestic competition within China drove quality up and prices down and in part because of Chinese protectionism.
These days Chinese protectionism is not necessary to keep the offshoring train running and only American protectionism will arrest it.
The US outsourced to China because of cheap labor, not because Chinese products are good--precisely because US companies were competing with each other and needed ways to reduce prices and improve margins.
That this ultimately had the effect of diminishing the manufacturing base in the US doesn't speak to the ability of US or Chinese companies to compete.
China is a centrally planned economy. To argue it's more competitive than the US is again not tenable.