Increase tariffs on goods that we can build/supply on our own. This will bring manufacturer focus back to providing for American interests instead of international. For instance, we export goods such as grain, milk, and textiles, and we import goods made with those things. Why don’t we just keep the exports here, manufacture those goods ourselves, tariff the goods that we can make but others are importing? That would reduce the amount of back and forth with shipping, and Americans could find jobs making those goods.
The whole reason China’s booming the way they are is that Americans are thirsty for shit they can make on the cheap. If we brought the manufacturing of those goods back to America, you cut out middle-men and shipping and put Americans back to work. America’s desire for goods, esp. luxury goods like vehicles, phones, electronics, etc., isn’t going away.
As a result of all of this, companies will come back to America to do business since the cost of exporting to us is so high. That puts Americans back to work and fattens the corporate tax rolls to make up the difference.
Why do you assume that manufacturers are focused on serving American interests at all? As time goes on, our role in the global economy has been shrinking. This isn't because we've been chasing our industry out of the country, either. We are simply living in a world that is no longer dominated by U.S. industry in a post-WW2 period. The U.S. has 310+ million people. China and India alone have more than 2 billion. If I'm a manufacturer and I'm looking to build a factory closest to my customer base, am I building it in the U.S. or in Asia?