Oil/Energy imports account for the lions share of the difference in importing/exporting.
Manufacturing would make up for most of the remaining difference. In 1930 the world was far less competetive than it is today. The reason we can’t compete globally has far more to deal with government regulation, supporting our standard of living (labor costs) and taxation.
Imposing blanket tariffs will only serve to raise OUR costs of living and limit our choices and spur global retribution.
They didn’t work in 1930 and they won’t work in 2016 because the they are for all intents and purposes subsidies born on the back of consumers. They undermine capitalism by hindering innovation, productivity and creativity.
One last thing, tariffs invariably lead to corruption.
I guess the question is how much regulation to get rid of. We have too much, but do we want to make the US look like China?
Obviously even if the US cut back our regulations to something reasonable, it would still be hard to compete with China, when you consider the skies and air of Beijing or rivers that you can practically walk across.