endence on China for critical pharmaceuticals and medical supplies, such as face masks and other personal protective equipment. The New York Times reported that while China makes half the world’s medical masks, it has refused to export them and is buying more on the world markets. China has since signaled to the Trump administration its willingness to provide PPE. India, another major supplier of key pharmaceuticals and PPE, has just imposed a ban on exporting many of them. The hidden cost of this high dependence on the global supply chain for medical items alone is enormous and multiplied by the thousands of other key products and technologies for which the United States is also dependent on China.
Nor did American workers mostly move into equivalent or higher-paying jobs as the result of globalization. Rather, as MIT economist David Autor and his colleagues have noted, most of the 2 million to 2.4 million American workers displaced by globalization either did not get jobs or got lower-paying jobs. Moreover, those workers who kept their jobs did not see their income rise in step with rising overall US productivity. The gap between rich, middle class, and poor widened dramatically, creating large welfare problems.
Also uncounted has been the cost of the supply chain in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. The Environment and Energy Study Institute estimates that air and sea freight account for 4 to 5 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, China’s factories emit far more pollution than those of the United States. Thus, China produces half the world’s steel in plants that emit 25 percent more gases than American or European factories. Ironically, the United States, Europe, and Japan are contributing to a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions by sourcing products from China.
Recently, overseas assembly operations have become automated, thereby canceling out most of the original labor cost advantage. With costs being similar worldwide, as well as the environmental cost and the uncertainty of having a single-