We like trade. That’s how we get our houses stuffed with old and new special things. Years ago, more merchandise came from the USA than today. I remember when I was a teenager in the 1970s, if something was made in Japan, that was a sign of low quality. Japan has come up in the world and now being made in Japan is more of a sign of high quality.

In the 1990s, Walmart boasted that its merchandise was “Made in America”. It seemed to lose its commitment to buying products here when it discovered that the consumers care more about low prices than where something was manufactured.