First of all, we're already in a trade war. Asia started it with us with their tariffs against us, and their currency devaluations. First you need to understand this, or else you've really got nothing to bring to this discussion.

Second of all, Asia, selling off our debt? Dumping the dollar? Excellent!!! That means our labor in services AND trade goods will be so low that we'll export to everyone else like crazy. Our goods will make it to Asia through circuitous routes (think: Canada, Europe). A devalued dollar would mean a monster explosion in jobs for Americans, particularly in exports!

Third of all, math is still not your friend. Our deficit in trade-in-goods is so high that it makes our services surplus look like an absolute joke in comparison. Let me explain what this means: it means that in NOT protecting our manufacturing industries, we have lost orders of magnitude more than we've gained from the low-paying service industry. We could lose all of our services exports but closing off manufacturing imports would be such a monstrous job creator that we wouldn't even miss it.

Fourth, exactly what regulations, besides tariffs, would bring manufacturing jobs back? You're contradicting yourself here.

Let's get this straight - you will never convince me to stop supporting protectionism. And if you look around you for a moment, fewer and fewer people, Democrats included, are buying what you are selling. You should ask yourself why.