US has less manufacturing? Are you talking about the country with – GE, Boeing, Nike, Caterpillar, 3M, Dow Chemicals, Exxon Mobil, Bose, John Deere, Ford, Du Pont, Procter & Gamble, Cisco, Johnson & Johnson, Intel, General Motors, Pfizer, Honeywell, Steinway, Xerox…
Even where its companies outsource most of manufacturing – like in the case of Apple most of the value is captured by the US than its outsourced partner like Foxconn. You can see this in the profit margins of top US manufacturers vs those of Japan and China.
Stated plainly, the US is the leader of world’s manufacturing followed by China, EU (a large portion belonging to Germany) and Japan. Manufacturing output. International Statistics
[This data is 6 years old, but only change is China has moved to 2nd]
However, unlike the other 3, US two key elements that will decide the future of manufacturing – energy security and young population. US has already overtaken Saudi Arabia as the world’s leading oil producer – U.S. Seen as Biggest Oil Producer After Overtaking Saudi and doesn’t face a rapidly ageing population pyramid.
Unlike Japan and Germany, US is also a colossal food producer by being the leader of the world’s agriculture along with China and India. Food security can impact trade in multiple ways and in a time of abundance we can miss how important that is. And unlike China, the US has a very robust financial market that is still the most efficient in the world. Financial market superiority will impact long-term economic survival.
Military muscle: the US has the world’s largest military industrial complex producing a range of toys for the world. That is hundreds of billions of dollars every year. US ships can reach almost every part of the world and can quickly react to protecting its key assets. No other major economy can do this.
Source : https://www.quora.com/How-does-the-U-S-make-money