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IMHO, protectionism will NOT cause US to 'lose the edge,' and you only have to survey the last 100 years of industrial/technical progress to determine that.

Virtually all the technological development in that timeframe was done here. Major exceptions: BASIC rocketry, by Nazi Germany (perfected here;) the diesel engine, Germany; --there are others.

But manufacturing prowess: all invented here (some exported to Japan, then re-imported under duress...); electronics smarts, guidance systems, software for manufacturing, all done HERE.

Reason: we compete internally, all the time. You developed a specialty practice and compete against Big Downtown firms...right?

And "protectionism" is one thing--but maintaining a standard of living is another thing entirely. That calls for judicious, flexible tariffs, not cut-offs or shut-offs, EXCEPT in the case of war.

Another thread: (run FR search on "Losing China" Again by title) contains a thread-head article which proposes that Red China is more than a little bellicose toward the USA, although they are masking it for the time being. I think it deserves some serious consideration.

BTW, the article simply goes into further detail on what some of us have been saying for quite a while--that PRChina is deliberately and carefully stealing our industrial base for purposes that have very little to do with "empowering the masses" in China.

Not by co-incidence, X42, who will be remembered as the highest-ranking traitor in US history, was the single most significant proponent of "make nice" to PRChina, after Kissinger, whose motivations were always doubtful--that is to say, never clearly patriotic.

Man, you seem to think government can direct a command centralized economic protectionist regime "intelligently." The US has been free trade since trade became a significant factor in its overall economy. If non competitive industries are cosseted, in time, particularly since protectionism is so hard to really enforce, the US would be eaten alive economically in rather short order. The US needs a Darwinian testing to retain its muscle tone.

I don't worry much however about this issue. A serious protectionism regime will never be enacted in America, for any length of time. The negative consequences will so quickly manifest themselves, that the regime would collapse of its own weight. The debate is simply for public consumption during campaigns by those protectionist elements who think it might further their drive to power. That drive will fail too. I have confidence in the ultimate good judgment of the American voter on the basics.