Free-market economics, locally. An outsourced global manufacturing hub is resulting in political pressure being extorted in order to further extend dominance, allowing dependance to take root. It may be a simplification but I imagine that like with UX, we now see trends where the path of least resistance is not what we want or need anymore. Do people actually know what they want and need? Consumer/ developed nations would be actually doing okay by dealing with the challenges of not being able to buy so many finished goods, running trade deficits fueling political tension. If a nation can achieve food security and maintain defence, the enxt logical question should be what can it produce and develop for its own neeeds. Protectionism might be spun as an ugly word, but it's a reaction to a mirror-image of itself.