I’m not sure if you’ve seen the news over the past decade, but most low cost labor countries like China are aeons ahead in automation. They’re just optimizing further and further, while the West just offshores and outsources everything.

Yes, that is why increasing tariffs and using that savings to subsidize automation in the US is the correct policy.

I don’t think tariffs will solve much, since people still want to buy those goods. USA just needs to start building ASAP - eat the initial losses, but put the effort in and make local manufacturing happen. Then it’s just classic capitalistic competition, which the USA claims to be the best at doing.