Comment by darby_nine

> (without playing the same game)

Presumably this is the actual answer—they're just better at manufacturing than we are at this point. By a large margin, as well. There is no shortcut to reversing decades and decades of shipping entire supply chains overseas at greatly reduced cost. We're just going to get substandard products at a greater cost to both the taxpayer (subsidy option) and the consumer (market option).

> How could the US build out a competitive drone industry with chinese manufacturers able to cut price because the Chinese government will cover the gap?

You swallow your losses until you automate your way out of a labor disadvantage or give up. Frankly the only reason this is getting attention is because it's seen as a military asset. It's basically burning cash to make the pentagon feel better about itself and generate a few hundred jobs at great cost to the taxpayer and pretending this is making some effort towards something valuable.