“Foreign domination was kept out, and our economy thrived.”
The real problem is the red tape and regulation. Things like the EPA, highest corporate taxes in the G20, etc. Those things are what makes Americans uncompetitive.
Erecting up a tariff wall will eliminate American jobs in exportation (yes, the exist), and while a short-term stopgap, will cripple American industries in the long term.
Tariffs work, if, and only if, America has the ability to invest, if Americans can actually ensure that their pay (and all of their pay), goes to the worker. Right now, about half of American earnings goes to the government. This was not the case in the late 19th and early 20th century where America boomed.
Today, it would simply be the nail in the coffin for American industries.
You could eliminate all of those and we still wouldn't compete against $0.17/hour Chinese labor.