Is 'For example, because of wage differentials between the countries, U.S. apparel-makers would need to be 2.5 times more productive than firms in Hong Kong to be  competitive. ' a clear rebuttal of the premise 'To compete with Hong Kong firms the U.S. apparel-makers had to be more than twice as productive.'
For example, because of wage differentials between the countries, U.S. apparel-makers would need to be 2.5 times more productive than firms in Hong Kong to be  competitive. ###To compete with Hong Kong firms the U.S. apparel-makers had to be more than twice as productive.