Such an intelligent come back. Sigh, no hope for most Cruz fans. Now they love Bush, McCain, Romney, McConnell and company since Cruz has gone to the dark side. Principles and Cruz parted ways long ago. He is a lying lawyer and little else.
Google, MicroSoft, and Apple combined have $300 billion in cash parked in offshore banks. If they were allowed to bring that money into the US tax free and invest that money (just as almost every other country in the world allows), tens of thousands of middle class jobs would be created. But the protectionists don't think it is fair that those global economy companies have made money in other countries and want to punish them for the profits they have made, thus keeping that investment capital available for every country in the world except the US.
Does free trade result in more economic growth and more jobs and create better opportunity for liberty and prosperity? Absolutely! Does it mean that the same middle class job from 1972 will still be there? Certainly not. But it does mean the creation of newer jobs to replace it.
The status quo is being lapped by a dynamic global economy. This country can either lead it, or it can fall behind. Protectionism guarantees that we fall behind.