Companies will test whether the U.S. can regain some of the manufacturing output it ceded in recent decades to China and other countries, the New York Times reported. That question has been contentious among workers whose jobs were lost to globalization. But with the supply-chain snarls resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, it has become intensely tangible from the consumer viewpoint as well. Some corporate giants are keen on testing that premise, if not for finished goods then certainly for essential parts. General Motors disclosed in December that it was considering spending upward of $4 billion to expand electric vehicle and battery production in Michigan. Just days later, Toyota announced plans for a $1.3 billion battery plant in North Carolina that will employ 1,750 people.
