I mean the Americans feel threatened by cheap Indian labor and so set up protectionist policies to stop Indian workers having access to their economy. All this does it force the Indian economy to grow to the point where the consumers for Indian goods and services are Indian - and the same for China.

I'm not saying I agree that Japanese products can't be better than another country's, but... isn't crafting a better production process the result of labor talent in the first place?

You are all probably too young to remember when Japanese imports were dismissed as cheap copies.

Rather like Chinese products or Indian software is now.