Automation has been a much bigger factor than foreign competition in many of those job losses.
Then why don’t we have that either?
I don't want tariffs, just a level playing field. It can be done. Trump renegotiated NAFTA with Mexico and Canada, and I'm open to trade with them for their willingness to do that.
But forcing Americans to compete with slave labor was just plain wrong, regardless of how much money we thought we would save. How are we any better than those slave holding states of the 1860s? The only difference between us and them is that instead of importing the slave labor, we exported the plantations.
Automation has been a much bigger factor than foreign competition in many of those job losses.
If that was true, they could bring back the jobs, use the same amount of automation here, and save on the shipment costs.