That might also help keep jobs here.
They would turn what industry America still has into just another component of the bloated welfare state. There's simply no need to compete when you have a captive market. That's one of the reasons why the Soviet car industry wasn't the wonder of the world.
Tariffs would also give the Government the ability to choose winners and losers in the domestic marketplace, allowing them to effectively enforce unionization and the rest of their whacked-out agenda
If you hand tariff power to the Government then your most important competitive act suddenly isn't to work better, faster, cheaper - it's to lobby the Government for interventions that suit your company.
Because once you allow Government to place a foot on the hose of production, negotiating with that foot becomes more important than anything else.
Finally - tariffs breach Freedom of Association. Why would we force Americans to buy something they don't want? If a foreign car is better, faster or cheaper than a GM Volt, by what right would we interfere?
If you truly want to bring industry back to America then remove the barriers to industry in America. Capital goes where it is treated best.
Reduce Corporate taxation. Also, simplify taxation. Tax fulfillment costs have become a significant burden on smaller businesses.
Reduce the vast panoply of EPA and other environmental regulations. Companies aren't going to relocate to a country where wood stoves can be declared illegal.
Remove arbitrary, vindictive Government (we all remember Gibson's guitars, I hope).
Get rid of Obamacare. America isn't France. Companies need employees to work more than 29 hours a week, and that's only a small piece of the anti-competitive madness pouring out from Obamacare.
Well, hope this was helpful.