That happened because Detroit manufacturers failed to keep up with quality and supply chain innovations, plus the lack of smaller cars during the energy crisis. Asian manufacturers ate Detroit’s lunch AND dinner, it wasn’t the evil unions screwing things up.
It's pretty well documented in primary sources that just about every manufacturer has moved their factories in pursuit of lower labour costs. Jurisdictions without labour protection regulation tend to unsurprisingly have lower costs for unskilled and semi-skilled labour. This isn't just about unions, but (very costly) safety regulations too.
This was all a fully predicted outcome of international free trade. US-based manufacturers simply can't compete with unregulated labour pools of people willing to work capably in toxic and dangerous conditions for most of their waking lives just to survive. It's the same reason we have to import enormous amounts of agricultural labour.
Depending on your political leanings you may take this as a cry to deregulate labour, or to increase tariffs. The status quo however dooms most domestic manufacturing to be noncompetitive.
CAFE was written in a way that protected UAW workers jobs at the expense of fuel economy and the ability to make and sell small cars. In the end, the only vehicles that were still profitable for the big three were vehicles riding on truck frames. Unintended consequences strike again.
This is correct. The only reason these manufacturers are still standing is because they are propped by the government, eg bailouts is just one example.
The market has otherwise already decided their shitty approach didn’t work.
