The problem with this is that the United States no longer has a significant manufacturing industry base.

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He cared so deeply about being part of the solution to create a viable American auto industry and a strong American manufacturing base.

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Russia, the world's ninth-largest economy, is seeking to diversify away from oil and gas and under President Vladimir Putin has made developing its manufacturing base, particularly the Russian car industry, an economic policy priority.

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The company is one of only a handful of U.S. companies that leads its industry while competing globally from a principally domestic manufacturing base.

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Since an awful lot of industrial chemistry is catalysed this way, and the chemical industry lies, one way or another, at the base of most manufacturing, there is a good argument that this is the most important prize of the lot.

ECONOMIST: The 2007 Nobel science prizes