No doubt Americans will look back on this current crisis as the moment the country collectively learned its lesson 'the hard way' about the dangers of over-reliance on Chinese manufacturing, or sending the vast majority of our manufacturing abroad anywhere for that matter. 

"The critical shortage of medical supplies across the U.S., including testing swabs, protective masks, surgical gowns and hand sanitizer, can be tied to a sudden drop in imports, mostly from China," Associated Press reports after a new investigation.  

Likely Washington's current panicked mobilization to ensure medical equipment and supply needs are met across the country as the numbers of infected Americans begin to track with the kind of exponential growth rate seen in Italy or Iran is due to political leaders already seeing the writing on the wall, or the plain and simple data for that matter. Trump's invoking the Defense Production Act and reportedly mulling lifting some tariffs against China is a case in point.