Man, you seem to think government can direct a command centralized economic protectionist regime "intelligently."Not really. But a few years of "whoa--let's look at this.." won't hurt too much.
The US has been free trade since trade became a significant factor in its overall economy.
I think your history is erroneous. Recent history: Ron Reagan, a conservative as you recall, discovered that the Japs were dumping both cars AND motorcycles in the USA and stopped them, cold.
But hey, Harley-Davidson is just buggywhips, right? Junk, right? Fat lazy managers and union types, right?
Not-so-recent history: we have ALWAYS maintained tariffs, just as we have ALWAYS subsidized certain export industries (principally agricultural.)
Where do you get this "free trade" stuff?
Ya, and the US bailed out Chrysler, and that was a mistake too. The current regime of tariffs is a minor factor, and has been for a long time. Let's get a bit more recent here. How did the Bush steel protectionism measure work out? First, it hurt industries that consume steel, and put Ohio manufacturing in a slump, and Ohio in play in the election, and then it was found to be a violation of various treaties by the world court, and our major trading nations were about to slap on retaliatory tariffs, and then Bush ran with his tail between his legs, which was a most intelligent cutting of his losses over a very stupid and counterproductive policy.
And there you have it.