Higher tariffs mean that anyone purchasing anything imported is subsidizing union labor, government regulations and high taxes.
You mean compete with the labor force in those countries where there is no middle class...
Without the unions, there would never have been a sizable middle class in America...I know I'll get a lot of flak over that but heh...
Are you willing to cut your wages to the same degree you want the unions to cut theirs???
90% of manufacturing workers are non union. 90%
I wouldn't give you any flak over that. But that situation only lasted as long as it took for the whole system to break down in a three-sided "crony capitalism" game that ultimately caused the destruction of this same middle class. This is exactly how it played out in the auto industry:
1. Politicians get votes from union workers and financial backing from auto manufacturers.
2. In exchange, the politicians award enormous contracts to these industrial giants for all kinds of crap at the expense of the taxpayers.
3. Auto manufacturers turn out products with declining quality over time, but nobody cares about it because they are only competing with other crappy auto manufacturers.
This type of scenario was never going to last very long. I'd suggest that it only lasted as long as it did because the U.S. had no industrial competitors for several decades after World War II.