We went to war with the British in no small part because of their efforts to curb our world trade. We've always been a trading nation, because trade makes us richer by maximizing production.
We have never been 'self sufficient', we have always traded. We seek to impose autarky (via 'sanctions') on other nations as punishment, not to make them stronger.
We were MUCH better off economically.
You are mistaken. Look up the average salary in 1970 and then how many man hours at that salary it would 'cost' someone to buy a TV, a car, or a refrigerator.
The current situation, which has nothing to do with Free Trade, is not sustainable. Fail.
The problem since the 1970s is a government unbound by the laws of supply and demand in the issuance of debt. It has nothing at all to do with trade. If anything, our ability to trade has preserved and enhanced on living standards in the face of rapacious government spending.
The politicians and bankers who profit from the government printing money would love for you to focus on producers and traders as the source of our ills. Don't be fooled!
Bottom line: You can be in favor of gloBULLism and what it has done to decimate America's middle class and our industrial base or you can be a Patriot. But you cannot be both.
In the 60's my father, no college, provided house, two cars and vacations every year for family of 5. And no, he was not in a union of any kind. The NEVER used credit cards. I watch my dad pay cash for a brand new 1970 Maverick $2300.00.
One generation later, both my wife and I are college educated and we cannot do that and not run up huge debt. Try to pay cash for a new car now.