politicians following greed impulses that resulted in poor public policy choices. Second, while we can't just flick a switch and reverse the consequences of past policy choices, we can at least take steps to stem the tide.
With that as backdrop, I would say yes, utilize tariffs if necessary, but focus overall on renegotiating existing trade agreements to convert them to fair as opposed to free trade agreements. By that I mean include protections within the trade pacts for American workers (as well as worker rights in party nations) and the environment globally. Fair trade means having similar environmental protections/regulations in place for the party nations. It means having similar cost-of-living wages, benefits and rights. Without those, there is no fair trade, rather it's corporations taking advantage of cheap labor and a cheap manufacturing regulatory environment. If it takes tariffs to leverage fair trade stipulations, then YES, by all means.
Other measures:
Create an inverse link between off-shore corporate tax rates and labor/environmental regulatory costs as opposed to a one standard fits all tax formula;
Return to genuine progressive taxation -- 1) given the rise in inequality associated with off-shoring production, tax the wealthy at a much higher rate to fund public programs that benefit the working class (health care, education including early child care, investment in public infrastructure and services, and green energy development; etc.) that ultimately create jobs and a competent/skilled workforce to perform them; 2) provide tax cuts for the middle/working class to increase consumer demand for non-luxury manufactured goods; 3) greater tax cuts for true small businesses to incentivize smaller business starts and create/stabilize small business jobs (by true small businesses I mean significantly less than 500 employees as "small business" is now defined). Keep in mind, it makes good sense to tax those who benefited most by off-shoring (and actually deregulation as well) at a significantly higher rate.
Provide greater incentives for "buy American" to businesses, corporations and tax payers via a consumption tax credit; strengthen commitment to "buy American" by the federal, state and local governments;
... to name a few things we could do.
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