> We live in a global economy now. A firm in the U.S. can design a product which is manufactured in another country. This would negatively affect U.S. manufacturing output, but would not have any impact on "creativity" as you describe it.

It can as long as there still remains workforce skilled in details of manufacturing and engineering. They don't disappear overnight. Remember, the USA had decades of industrial development and superiority to the rest of the world.

You'll see less and less of that kind of creativity, the more your country transforms into service economy where people only can cut hair to each other.