Offshoring occurs when businesses move factories, facilities and jobs overseas, while reshoring is when businesses return to the country from which it was originally relocated. It is difficult to know the exact number of American jobs that have been lost to offshoring because our government doesn’t keep relevant records, and corporate reports are not reliable. However, it is known that since 1997, America has lost more than 91,000 manufacturing plants and nearly 5 million manufacturing jobs - mostly to Communist China. Advocates claim these stable, middle-class jobs have been a backbone of the U.S. economy for decades, and these losses have done great damage to many American communities across our nation. And although offshoring has been an economic boon to China, it has been a disaster for the quality of its air and water, and the health of its people. Low overseas labor costs were cited by our executives as the biggest reason these firms relocated, but critics say China’s weaker labor and environmental protection laws had at least as much to do with their decision.

Offshoring opponents say they want our jobs back. They also claim that, for national security reasons, we need a healthy manufacturing sector to ensure the availability of critical items. They claim the Coronavirus pandemic showed how weak our “just-in-time” supply chain can be.
Offshoring proponents claim products will cost more for consumers if we relocate factories back to the U.S. They also say that even if we did so, automation and robotics would still keep us from recovering many of our lost manufacturing jobs.

Pending Legislation: H.R.2571 - Reshoring American Manufacturing Act or the RAM Act of 2023
Sponsor: Rep. Bill Posey (FL)
Status: House Committee on Ways and Means
Chairperson: Rep. Jason Smith (MO)

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