Nope. Not true.
If the screen on your Korean-made cell phone cracks, do you get it repaired here or in Korea?
If you purchase a gas compressor from Siemens, do you have it programmed in Germany?
If you purchase a oil platform hull from Norway for duty off the coast of Louisiana, do you have it manned by Norwegians?
@Hoodat Funny you should mention gas compressors.
I work for the Stasskol division of Nueman & Esser (out of Germany).
We sell parts to Siemens (Dresser Rand).
We have a small shop in Texas where we make compressor parts (Rings, Packings, etc).
We have 7 employees and we do about 2mil in sales a year (for now).
I can attest that it used to take about 20-25 employees to do the same, 35 years ago, when I started.
Technology has advanced.
I read an article recently that said the US still manufactures as much as it ever has before (dollar-wise), but with only about 25% of the workforce it used to require.
Also, we tend to make more high-end, engineered, things now.
Curious, that I buy steel from a Texas company, but that steel may come from Turkey.
Some of polymers we use to make wear parts can come from Italy, although we buy the molded materials used to make them from Germany (our main facility) or from local vendors.
The cutting tools on our machines? Iscar, from Israel.