How many countries committed "economic suicide"

Many countries suffocated their own productive forces in their economy via red tape etc thus paving the way for imports to come in and rule!

Consider: What are the real causes - factors that turned eg the US & the UK from net mega exporters to net mega importers in only a few decades?

In many countries it started making much more sense to import than to produce (due to red tape and other conditions) = "economic suicide"