Ford "assembles" cars - that's why they're called "assembly lines." Yes, any manufactured good of sufficient complexity will have at least one part coming from somewhere else in the world that specializes in making that part. That's not a bad thing. Insisting we make everything in the U.S. to be counted as being built in the U.S. is a huge step backwards. It is simply unreasonable to expect the U.S. to be the most efficient at producing everything. And if we're forced to accept such inefficiencies then we're necessarily lowering our standard of living.

I don't consider cars simple assembly, that has obvious value add when compared to a pile of parts. Fiber optic assemblies are expensive to buy but trivial to build from the inexpensive imported parts. Forcing purchasers of those assembled parts to buy onshore should count as an effective negative manufacturing GDP because it could have been purchased offshore fully assembled for cheaper. Perhaps there are good national security reasons for requiring onshore assembly of telecoms equipment but mixing it with economics statements is goosing.