DW reports that companies have indeed been reshoring and are starting to view our previous offshoring initiatives with a bit of confusion.

Thanks to the coronavirus and other unexpected challenges, especially the resulting (and ongoing) supply chain crisis, have sparked lots of unexpected issues, including inflation. As a result, more and more firms are cutting their costs and reshoring production to the US. As early as 2019, when the trade spat between China and the US was in full swing, American firms sought to decrease their dependence on the Asian market.

According to industry organization Reshoring Initiative, some 1,800 US firms are intending to reshore parts, or their entire, businesses this year. Some 220,000 new jobs are to be created in the US this way. Over a decade ago, only 6,000 new jobs were created in the country as a result of reshoring activities.

For instance, in March of this year, Intel announced it would pump some $20 billion into two new semiconductor plants in Arizona. General Motors is reshoring its battery production to Michigan where a new hub for lithium-based products will soon emerge. As steel prices have skyrocketed, producer US Steel has decided not to build its new $3 billion factory abroad, but rather in Alabama or Arkansas. Reshoring activities are also being considered by Lockheed, General Electric and ThermoFisher Scientific.

Still, more needs to be done. Reshoring expert Harry Moser thinks the US administration needs to step up to make this transition viable. “Our manufacturing costs are about 15% higher than Germany’s and 40% higher than China’s,” said Moser who headed a medium-sized engineering company for 22 years.

Read more here.