The US isn't producing much manufacturing machinery.
Machine tools last a long time, many decades. Replacement of worn-out machine tools does happen, but slowly. Because of this, the market for new machine tools is mostly driven by the growth rate of manufacturing, not the total level of manufacturing activity. If manufacturing is flat or in decline, new machine tool sales become rare. The US does have a big used machine tool market, and much demand is filled from there.
China now makes quite good machine tools. (Plus many crappy ones.) Search Alibaba for "CNC mill". There are decent 3-axis machines below US$20,000, and 5-axis machines below $30,000. Haas, the biggest machine tool builder in the Western world, has almost nothing below $70,000.[1]
As a rule of thumb, 10x the volume cuts manufactured product cost in half. It's hard to come back from being a small volume producer.
Bad news. Haas announced yesterday they are cutting US machine tool production during the tariff mess.[1] The exact opposite of what was supposed to happen.
Yes. We have a low end industry, but China has the ability to kill it. Haas is already importing from China. And at their current list prices, their machines, with known problems, are not that competitive with imported products costing 30% more, but using higher tolerances and heavier components.
The US isn't producing much manufacturing machinery.
Machine tools last a long time, many decades. Replacement of worn-out machine tools does happen, but slowly. Because of this, the market for new machine tools is mostly driven by the growth rate of manufacturing, not the total level of manufacturing activity. If manufacturing is flat or in decline, new machine tool sales become rare. The US does have a big used machine tool market, and much demand is filled from there.
China now makes quite good machine tools. (Plus many crappy ones.) Search Alibaba for "CNC mill". There are decent 3-axis machines below US$20,000, and 5-axis machines below $30,000. Haas, the biggest machine tool builder in the Western world, has almost nothing below $70,000.[1]
As a rule of thumb, 10x the volume cuts manufactured product cost in half. It's hard to come back from being a small volume producer.
[1] https://www.haascnc.com/index.html