I really wish shareholder would sacrifice a little profit to allow these to be made in the states. So many US jobs.
I'm so glad I did not choose mechanical engineering as a college major, and instead opted for Computer Sciences. I wasn't around during the 70s and 80s but it appears the jobs in the engineering field has dried up.
Programming appears to be the only field that has resisted globalization, and even then there is still massive offshoring.
When industrial production comes back to the US, the price of consumer goods will rise. Consumers will not be able to afford as much at those higher prices, so some American businesses will lose customers. People will be laid off in other sectors of the economy because of the reduced demand.
Overall, your plan would just shift jobs from other sectors of the economy into manufacturing. The average American would be able to afford less, not more. In other words, Americans would likely be poorer as a result of this policy.
There isn't some magic rule that restricting imports leads to greater prosperity. There are costs to restricting imports, and in general, those costs outweigh the benefits (especially for developed countries).
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601491/the-all-american-i...
At any rate, I think at some point we need to stop looking at the economic argument and do what's best for US labor, US citizens, and human rights/health/the environment worldwide. Just how much are cheap electronics worth?
Moreover, Americans don’t want these jobs in the first place. Working in factories isn’t the future of labor in America, and we as a society really need to stop fetishizing this kind of “honest” blue collar work.