[central_va]

Yes, we can impose import barriers to support American manufacturing, but if the dollar remains relatively over-valued, all that accomplishes is import substitution at the margins without regaining America's export markets.

Tariffs are not "barriers". Import quotas are barriers. You are bringing the export market into the discussion. I am not sure why. I am talking about imports and promoting domestic industry. Stay on track.

[Rockingham]

In many industries, the great prize is exports because of the vast size of the potential market. Moreover, the distinction between imports and exports can be thin because of domestic production or assembly or servicing of foreign makes.

By way of example, John, a friend of mine in the 1980s did not want to go to college but became a local auto mechanic. Being bright and highly capable, he was put onto servicing BMWs. He brought manuals home and read them more diligently and with greater comprehension than most college students accomplish as to their textbooks. John won national recognition as a BMW mechanic and was given an all expense paid trip to Germany for additional training and two weeks of vacation.

In time, BMW corporate hired John and posted him to Charleston to inspect and repair vehicles imported into the US. The last I heard though, he was in a supervisory capacity with BMW in a manufacturing plant they built in South Carolina.

Is that BMW plant part of the American manufacturing base? It is, but not quite as much as if it were a Ford or GM plant. After all, even if the jobs in the plant are almost entirely held by Americans, the profits from their work go back to BMW in Germany.