From an economic standpoint, completely free trade is best. From a national interest standpoint, the more key industries that are local, the better. The more inefficient, the more employment. And yes... that means higher prices for most everything.
This line of thinking IMHO requires strategic tarrifs. I think many people on both sides would (did, under Bidens last term?) support tariff's for national security. The reason blanket tariffs are a bad strategy here, even if they also cover the national security aspects, is because the voting population doesn't like prices to rise across the board, and will nearly 100% vote out whoever implements them, with the aim of supporting someone who claims they will reverse the policy.
So, a reasonable middle ground is what is needed. A country should not have so much outsourced that it is extremely vulnerable to supply chain problems. And a country should also not have so much local production that it is inefficient and poor. I think that tariffs have a role to play here but, obviously, they should not be ridiculous like the Trump tariffs. They should be a lot more predictable and if tariffs are adjusted they should change slowly over time to not cause economic disruptions.
Since there is no way for the US to compete based on cost or capacity (we just don't have the workforce numbers) with China, then the only other option is to force domestic supply chains to spring up through restrictions.
I think we should do pretty much exactly what China does:
1.) you want to sell a product to the US? You have to produce it here and the facility must be partially owned by a US company. Also you must transfer IP.
2.) Since we can't get away with massive forced and/or slave labor (legally), then create a new visa class for temporary workers that is excluded from minimum wage, worker protections, social security, etc. (yes, basically a slave class)
Once we build capacity and knowledge back, then start shift back to a more domestic workforce.
Very very nasty... but doable. The other option is to just nuke China.
If your only two options are holdings slaves or nuking a significant proportion of the world population some debugging needs to occur in your thinking.
Ah yes the two choices americans have in their lives... enslave someone, or genocide someone. From the 1500s to the 2000s, some things don't change. Some even call it american ingenuity :-)
