They have the largest market to sell to in the world, and the largest production capacity and infrastructure. By sheer numbers their market will be more lucrative than the US, and even if US beefs up manufacturing, China is just ahead in terms of that investment and still have cheaper labor.

I can’t see how you beat that combination unless our most forward industries take it up a notch (tech, medical, defense). Hollywood, gaming, social media (TikTok) have already shown that China can be a leader in that front.

They haven’t taken over just yet, but the rate of growth makes this whole question boil down to a matter of time.

Defense might be the one thing we will always be ahead of them on for awhile. There will be a day in the future where the US will have to accept its new role as an advanced country that is the not the driving global force (the Britains, Japans, Germanys).

Of course, we could always lax our immigration policies and double our population, in which case we have chance.