I don't have a problem with foreign equipment or cars as long as they come from countries that reciprocate free trade. Japan is another nation with one sided trade laws. How many Japanes car factories are in the USA? How many US car factories are in Japan(or even cars for that matter)?
The US motor industry isn't a great example to use. I don't see that it's so much to do with the Japanese government keeping US cars out so much as the fact American cars have no export value.
They're huge, often poorly built (I've yet to see one with all the interior panels fitting properly, or indeed a reasonable attempt at a quality interior, even in "luxury" models), whilst many of the engines belong in the 1950s.
Don't get me wrong, a growling V8 muscle car sounds fantastic at the weekend, but in Tokyo you want a small nimble car that excels at city driving and will fit in tiny parking spaces because in crowded Japanese cities every square foot of level ground is incredibly valuable, whilst in the UK we're paying $5/US gallon for fuel, so something that does 18mpg is worthless as an everyday car - far too expensive to run when you can pick up something from Asia or Europe that is cheaper, more comfortable, built to a higher standard and will do 60-80mpg.
The fact that many engines from Detruit produce fewer hp-per-litre-capacity than a datsun-something is exactly the reason noone wants them. They're horrifically inefficient, and the only reason they're viable is the low low gas prices which is a situation almost unique to America. Everyone else pays far more for fuel. Plus, American cars typically don't handle well in the corners so have little value as sports cars despite their monstrous engines.
Emissions regulations are improving the situation by making people develop the efficiency of engines rather than just adding more cylinders, but still the only place they excel is on big open US highways where you can expend the power in a straight line. But therein lies the problem. US highways. Not British, Japanese or European highways.
When you factor in the dominance of unions in Detroit, and the high wages paid to essentially unskilled workers, it's little wonder US-produced cars are restricted to the US. You're paying too much for too little. Any Fords or Chevrolets sold outside America are almost always produced outside America and are built to a far higher standard.
If the US Construction Industry wants to avoid going the same way as the US car industry, they'll need to innovate and sell globally, instead of keep on doing what they've been doing for decades in the flawed hope their domestic market will sustain them because America is "so big". It won't. Some US companies are already innovating, some aren't. I pity those that aren't.
Some Chinese equipment is tat, but some is not that bad. They may be banned from selling clones of European machines, but the lessons they learn from stripping other people's machines will allow them to build decent machines of their own design. Some bits like complex electronics don't get done so well, but structurally and mechanically many of the machines are not bad at all, so Western companies should be very afraid.
Dealer networks also need to get a grip. Marking up a $15 airfilter to $50 is ludicrous. In the UK, an independent mechanic I know can service Land Rovers with genuine Land Rover parts for approximately 20-30% of what our local franchised Land Rover dealer charges. The same is true of many other companies. Of course the main dealers will tell you they're counterfeit, but again, you can see that half the time it's actually been bought wholesale
from the dealer. It just hasn't got the badge on, same as Donaldson/Bobcat.
Their greed and complacency are not sustainable, and I guess the lesson is adapt or die.
Equally, there are bits of beaurocracy - especially in the EU - that could do with getting stripped out because they do nothing but cost people money, waste people's time and damage industry.