You just can't get it through your head that everything isn't made in America. It never was. We started out as an importing country, and grwe to be the largest importer exporter in the world. It never was manufacturing that provided the bulk of jobs and GNP in this country, and never will be. We simply bought up everything smaller countries produced, and resold/exported it. We imported the raw materials from other countries to manufacture they things nobody else made. We were never a "we must sell more apples than we import' kind of country. If we do bend down to that kind of mentality, we will become that third world country you speak of. If you think manufacturing provides the bulk of jobs for Americans, then your "level the playing field" WILL turn this into the third world country you speak of, because over 50% of Americans will become unemployed if we abandon the trading principles that made this country wealthy and great.
I don't know why you hate Obama so much then, because turning the USA into a closed bordered "USSR" is exactly what he wants to do, and what you want.
" You just can't get it through your head that everything isn't made in America. It never was."Strawman. Certainly we should trade. Real trade means we buy product from you and you buy product from us. Real trade does not mean we buy product from you and ship jobs, factories and treasuries in return. China has multiplied its economy while being an exporting nation, ours has diminished by being the importer.
Our country was at its highest when our economy was driven by the industrial engine. It's WW II triumph was as functioning as the arsenal of democracy. Reliance on the financials, shopping centers and 'information economy' to achieve the same heights as the production economy did is showing its results currently. We have to make more of what we buy. What works for the homeowner, works for the nation.