>>>I was talking about mnufacturing moved to China while the smarts stayed in the home nation- which would be the case for all the examples you quote.
>OK
>Now, let's suppose that those "home nations" - Korea and Japan - decide to align with China rather than with the US.
>Crazy?
>Look again.
>If that happens, where did the US' manufacturing base just go?
>Hey, Sammie, Victor and Kevin - do you know what a 13mm open end wrench looks like?
OK I'll bite. Yes I do. I have 6 or 8 13mm open end wrenches some with box on the other end and some with another metric on the other-usually a 12mm or 15mm. I also have 2 "dog bones" with 13mm sockets and sockets in 13mm for 1/4",3/8" and 1/2" drives.
Why do you ask- do you need to borrow one? I can cover everything from 4mm to 52mm in even mm with some +.5 mm sizes.

>No?
>Well.. that's the problem.