Opinion | To Outbuild China, America Needs Friends

The country that can

manufacture the

most — steel,

planes, missiles, computer

chips — will win a long war. America was once the world’s

industrial

superpower. Now

it accounts for just 17

percent

of global manufacturing. China controls 28 percent,

and its lead is growing. But America doesn’t stand

alone. Together with allies and

partners , the United States can

match China’s industrial might. Opinion The Editorial Board America

Cannot

Win

Alone

One of the most important weapons in the American arsenal is the Tomahawk cruise missile, which can travel over 1,000 miles to deliver 1,000 pounds of explosives within just feet of a target. In June, the military fired 30 of them to destroy parts of Iran’s nuclear facilities without putting a single American soldier in danger. With threats growing in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, the United States and its allies can’t get enough of them. In a protracted war, we would run out of Tomahawks for our own forces, let alone for those of our allies.

Last year, a solution seemed to present itself. The United States was close to a deal to co-produce Tomahawks at a factory in Japan, potentially doubling production of the missiles. The negotiations had been hard. The Americans had to convince Japan to agree to a long list of limits on how it could manufacture and use the weapons, and to whom it could sell them.

It wasn’t the Japanese who scuttled the partnership, however. It was opposition from within.