The US could produce everything its citizenry consumes, but how is this beneficial? The US could raise tariffs further, but who benefits? I know the nationalist arguments about anticompetitive and abusive foreign practices, but this does not justify raising costs for consumers here. Government wants revenue, and the politically-connected want to eliminate competition with threatens their profit margins. It's packaged to sell to a gullible public by preying on their prejudices, but it is short-sighted and destructive.
Absolutely. And this is why humanity can't have nice things - because we are too gullible, following leaders who are only looking to fill their short-term desires. It is a tale as old as time remembered.