I favor a lassez-faire approach, where competition and efficiency determine the winners and losers. This benefits the consumer, and in the long run it benefits the American work force by encouraging the production of better products made more efficiently at better prices. So I buy the knives that I like, irrespective of where they are made. If a foreign knife maker down-regulates the cost of American knives via market forces, then I say huzzah.
If an American company - or any company - suffers from open competition, then it was too fat and unproductive anyway and it needed to be culled from the herd. The most humane response to a sick animal is to make it healthy, and if not then to euthanize it, and the same is true with knife companies.
This is a matter of economics, not politics.
This is how I think about it logically too. Ultimately, at the end of the day, I buy what I need and want and my collection + to buy list reflects this. Additionally, I have seen junk and nice stuff from many countries. Yes this includes US made junk from supposed "craftsmen" (not just a regular joe) and nice stuff from China or whatever other countries some people like to think of as cheap sweatshop labor products. This is not limited to knives.
Regarding knives, I do not believe any country is inherently better at knife making as it is a learned skill that RELATIVELY speaking, doesn't require a lot of complex infrastructure or tools that are more available to more developed countries. To me, things like societal and cultural attitudes regarding the product and production/quality, skill level of the available worker pool, or particular consumer demands are very likely to influence the products, but it is not an end all say all as it still ultimately up to the producers/makers/decision makers. For example, if you mostly expect China to provide cheap disposable grade goods, guess what they're going to make a lot of and guess who they will use in their society to do so?
However, if I have to drag politics into it, then I prefer buying US or from allied countries that actively support the US and have a decent amount of citizenry that don't hate the US just b/c it's the US. Or at least aren't actively working against the US. (Granted, if you want to hate many of the things the US government or certain people have done, go ahead... no thought police here).
All of this is PROVIDED that I'm getting a good product and value. I will not support a substandard product or ripoffs just b/c USA or any other country is stamped on it. Plus, if there is a really good or innovative knife maker who also offers good value on their product but happens to be from another country, I would still rather buy from them vs stuffing the pockets of management or anyone else at a US company who only cares about knives enough to make money.
I also personally find it interesting if I can get any particular said product made by a particular group or people the product is closely associated it. Ex I think Americans or anyone who really wants to has the capacity to make a good kukri or balisong and I would have no qualms against owning their products, but there's something about having a (well made) kukri or balisong from Nepal or the Philippines by someone who actually understands both tools well respectively.
