Earlier quoted context omitted.
> America did it to itself. Corporations outsourced manufacturing to China, because American corporations are independent from the US government and profit-motivated.
If a corporation is HQed in and operated out of America, and diverts the bulk of its profits to American citizens, it is reasonable to say that "America did it to itself". American citizens could have voted with their wallets, and they could have voted at the booths to elect governments that would regulate the flow of American jobs overseas. But they didn't, and so here we are.
In the Chinese system, that's the market but always capped by political and CCP decisions, if they deign to care.
In the American system, that's resolutely only the market. The government has some limited second order control (tariffs, industrial policy, national security exclusions), but generally didn't use them against China 1990-2018.
Ergo, the deciders moving manufacturing to China were the CEOs of American companies, optimizing their own production costs.
I'd be curious to see an analysis of the rise of Walmart (and immolation of Sears) and later Target vis-a-vis Chinese manufacturing of consumer goods sold in America. I'd be surprised if the centralization of point-of-sale (vs previous more diverse and independent stores) didn't incentivize bulk, low-cost offshore manufacturing via volume.