Glad to see another article from you. I work in the auto industry so I have witnessed first-hand the offshoring of U.S. jobs. At this point, people just need to accept that the factory jobs that have been lost are not coming back. Trade barriers will do nothing to stop the automation of factories.

Most of the parts my company makes overseas have been turned into commodities. The jobs making these parts only exist because the labor is cheap. If we try to bring these jobs back to the U.S., they will just become automated.

The complicated parts and all of the engineering is still in the U.S. That is where the U.S. needs to be focused-new developments and not trying to roll back the clock to 1960. Putting resources into electric motors and batteries, self driving cars and lightweight materials will be much more beneficial. I'm sure other industries are much the same in this regard. We need to invest in innovation and educating skilled workers, not trade restrictions. Great post. I find it funny that almost all economists are in agreement about free trade, but everyone seems to ignore them.