'if you start a ̶r̶i̶s̶k̶y̶ venture that earns 2%, when you could invest the money safely in bonds at 5%'
The US invented flat screen technology. The return on manufacturing didn't fit American business profit levels so they sold the technology off to overseas companies. Tariff's aren't going to fix that. They might artificially boost the return short term, but unless we are going permanent protected markets this sort of low return manufacturing isn't coming back, because of American management style, not 'Canada bad', not 'trade deals bad'. If anything a better cause statement would be to say 'American MBAs bad'.
The discussion way back when they interviewed executives about LCD patents/research being sold of was that they were just too low of a profit margin to bother pursuing. I believe it was a 60 Minutes piece but it may have been a nightly news piece at the time.
If business costs are lower offshore, that raises the profit margin for the busines to go there. It doesn't mean that offshore businesses accept lower margins.
The US invented flat screen technology. The return on manufacturing didn't fit American business profit levels so they sold the technology off to overseas companies. Tariff's aren't going to fix that. They might artificially boost the return short term, but unless we are going permanent protected markets this sort of low return manufacturing isn't coming back, because of American management style, not 'Canada bad', not 'trade deals bad'. If anything a better cause statement would be to say 'American MBAs bad'.