The Reality of Global Trade

In his manufacturing talk, supply chain professional Augie Picado explains the actual reason behind disappearing manufacturing jobs. This is an issue that has been discussed a lot lately, especially surrounding Brexit, the 2016 presidential election and the more recent French election. Increasingly political platforms are positioning protectionism as a positive thing, as politicians and people blame trade for the loss of high paying manufacturing jobs to countries like China, Mexico and Vietnam. Trade agreements are also criticized.

The border and logistics specialist states output is actually growing, but Americans are still losing jobs, and not for reason many would think. The manufacturing talk explains that 87% of these lost jobs were eliminated due to machines and automation, a concept that is spreading to every kind of production line. This means only 1 in 10 is lost to offshoring. The speaker promotes shared production and open borders as a way to produce high quality goods for less money.