The alternative to free trade is protectionism, under which tariffs and other duties are imposed on imports to make them more here and thus less competitive with goods produced here.
As history has repeatedly and consistently taught us, and as logic dictates, whenever the U.S. imposes a tariff or other duty on imports from another country or countries, that or those countries respond by imposing tariffs and duties on goods that the U.S. exports to it or them. That results in fewer exports from the U.S. which in turn translates into slackening of production here and thus to layoffs. Free trade treaties, which ban the signatories from imposing tariffs and duties on one another's exports, allow for more imports but also more exports and thus can increase domestic production and employment.

For these reasons, it's no accident that ever since the days of Smoot-Hawley, every President or either party has favored free-trade policy.

How will the next administration improve the balance of trade?

We have to consider the products being traded. If we were to tariff plastic costume jewelry imported from a poor starving country that accepts our export of food, that country would not be so likely to levy a tit-for-tat tariff on the food they needed.

Accepting imports from other countries can be both good diplomacy and a means for consumers to get the best and/or the best they can afford.

What I would like us to do is import less of what we do, can and should be making for ourselves. Namely food and fuel.

Free trade is all well and good in principle but I think we ought to insist on reciprocity from our trading partners. China and Japan, two of our larger trading partners, have extremely lopsided trading laws. If we imposed mirror images of the restrictions they place on US goods on their goods you would hear no end to the screaming...

What is the trade surplus today with Japan and China? At one time it was over 125 billion dollars..but that was several years ago! They are allowed access to our markets, while we pay tariffs to theirs.

To the extent that the U.S. has unfavorable balances of trade with some GATT and NAFTA nations, that is not because of free trade. That is due mostly to goods manufactured in the U.S. not being competitive with comparable goods manufactured in some countries. It is not only a matter of costs, with labor costs being lower in many other countries than here, but also of quality. The way to improve the balance of trade is not to inhibit trade but rather to find ways to make U.S. goods more competitive on world markets as well as domestically.

Well, as your opening statement suggested, CG, one such way is to insist that nations with unfettered access to our markets extend the same access to our goods seeking entry to their markets. Japan and China are two examples of nations with what I see as unfair trade practices. If you want to see a specific example, look at the restrictions on attempts to sell US produced rice in Japan. If you look west instead of east, look at the multitudinous restrictions on US goods in the European markets.