Comment by MrMorden

> Your position assumes facts not in evidence. If the administration wanted to rebuild American manufacturing, the last thing they'd do is pile on additional taxes on manufacturing domestically—which is exactly what their tariffs do.

> ...

> They'd also finish metrication ASAP, increase investment in technical education, implement universal healthcare coverage, modernize payment systems, and so on. You'll note that the Trump administration wants none of the above.

I covered that with "[the people making the policy are] lacking the competence to effectively move the needle in the other direction (and favoring bold, impulsive, and ultimately self-defeating action)."

You can't infer intention from lack of competence.

> An administration that wants to rebuild American manufacturing would decrease tariffs, not increase them. They'd eliminate the chicken tax, the Buy America Act, the Jones Act, and every other regulatory instrument that encourages domestic manufacturers to milk captive customers for all they can rather than make products that customers want to buy.

Sorry, no. The 90s called and want their ideas back. You're not going to libertarian manufacturing back to the US with more free trade. The Chinese know how to exploit that, and eliminating the things you list will just lead to more manufacturing getting offshored.

What they need to do is "pile on additional taxes" strategically, based on a goal and the current status of industry (e.g. no tariffs on manufacturing equipment, yet). Then they need to pile more money into subsidies, etc. It would also be smart to require certain foreign manufacturers to form 50-50 JVs in order to access the American market (and force manufacturing tech/skill transfer).