[apawloski]

I remember you trying to defend the tariff policies as a defense against China. Do you still honestly perceive China as a threat to American power and livelihood? If so, how do you square this stance of conceding global power to China at the same time? At the very least, surely you can see the importance of global supply chains to American manufacturing that you want to protect?

I'm asking these questions specifically based on your arguments in the past. I don't understand how you can believe America can thrive in a world without allies and trade partners.

[rayiner]

I believe in the pre-World War I Republican policies that led to a highly developed industrial economy with few commitments to international security. We are at risk from China because we outsourced our industrial capacity to China. The U.S. used its industrial capacity to build the largest air force and navy in the world overnight when it entered World War II. Today, China is the country that has that capacity.

[apawloski]

Ok. So if we really did care about building that industrial capacity, then why are we randomly and capriciously taxing the resources needed to build that capacity? Including the critical resources that we don't have in America? Why are we making it so hard for domestic production companies to make short, medium, and long term plans by repeatedly changing our trade policies on whims?

The globalized supply chains needed to get the natural resources alone should be enough to answer your question about why we should care about America's global relationships.