

I agree with his premise that the knowledge and ability to manufacture stuff needs to be maintained. Not from a xenophobic/sinophobic position, but for practical reasons. If it’s forgotten then no one can compete to make a cheaper or improved/different product. There’s also an issue of if a war breaks out and supply lines are stopped (whether that’s war with China or someone else who can attack supply lines). It’s best if everyone in the world has access to manufacturing so people can have access to different jobs they may be better at or having the capability to create things that they couldn’t otherwise.
Now, there is an argument that a reliance on international trade prevents war. That is something to consider. China and the US are reluctant to go to war because they’d both be crippled by it even without considering combat. I don’t think this is great justification though, but it is something to think about.





It’s actually not as simple as that, assuming they’re connected to the grid. Power transmission is costly too, which needs to be accounted for, not just the power consumption/generation. Them being off-grid also isn’t really reasonable because they’d need a lot of redundant power sources and backups, which would be better as part of the grid.
They should still be paying for all this, but estimating the real cost is non-trivial.