[EnderWiggin1970]

Ignore the critics. I've had the same idea with regards to Central American countries like El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica (Nicaragua can pound sand). Encourage infrastructure development (better roads, power generation and ports, etc.), deport the illegal population, and use tax incentives to finance factories there that will undercut Chinese competition. We solve the illegals problem and the China problem, and cultivate friendly relations and strengthen our ties in the Americas while blocking out China.

To those who say this undermines American job creation, deporting millions of illegals will do more than enough to raise wages on jobs in the US. We don't need to be making cheap crap in the US at wages competitive with 3rd world countries. That's not the path to prosperity anyway. But let's buy that stuff from friends, not from enemies.

[EnderWiggin1970]

And to clarify - I’d still support tariffs on higher-end goods that can be made competitively in the US at a decent wage to rebuild industry and kneecap the Chinese. We just don’t need to onshore production of every piece of injection molded plastic or cheap textiles, etc.