A lot of consumer shit is made in China and environs. And frankly I can't really see any compelling reason to buy an american-made car (with the exception of Tesla) and plenty of reasons why americans want to buy cars made elsewhere.
The vast majority of "non-american" cars sold in the US are builty in the US, just manufactured in factories owned by non-US companies. For example, I drive a Subaru, but it was assembled in a plant in Indiana -- back in 2006 -- and hence did not contribute to the trade deficit in that year.
Good point. The USA makes plenty of world class vehicles on their assembly lines--just usually not designed in the USA.
The entire worldwide production of:
BMW X and Z-class are built in South Carolina.
Mercedes GLE (formerly ML) and GLS (formerly GL) are built in Alabama.
Honda builds in Ohio and Toyota in KY. I don't think these models entire worldwide production is in the USA, though. VW is building a factory in Chattanooga, TN and production should begin soon. I wasn't aware that Subaru also built in the USA.
Manufacturers that have their entire production solely in Europe: Land Rover & Jaguar (now owned by Tata), Porsche, Seat, Skoda, Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mini, Rolls Royce, & Bentley. These are all well built cars for the most part, but not really mass market (other than Mini). Seat and Skoda aren't even sold in the USA.
The automotive market is truly global.