[biophysboy]

You could broaden beyond the rust belt: America is a rich country that manufactures fancy things. A smart trade policy would focus on these things; it would not make policies to be competitive with poor nations. We tariffed places that export commodities or low-value-add products, places that we import ingredients from to make the fancy things.

Taiwan and China are related specifically on semiconductor trade; its the hottest point in our "battle" w/ China. TSMC is really the only company in the world that can make the best chips. Losing their trust is itself a security risk.

On the last point, I agree it would increase labor competitiveness, but I don't think its smart to compete with the whole world. If we wanted to do this, we should set policies to make skilled Americans competitive in the manufacturing industries that already exist here.