Then other countries slaps taxes on their imports in retaliation, and then US exports are equally hurt... causing other economic contractions that could similarly "destroy local economies." And everything gets more expensive for everyone.
This is generally always what happens when you try to raise import taxes. One example from history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot%E2%80%93Hawley_Tariff_Ac...
China is incredibly protectionist of their own industries and engages in widespread subsidies and import tariffs. I'm not sure why anyone cares about the US returning the favor.
I don't think you realize that protectionist measures in America is nothing new; in fact, we have quite a lot of protectionist measures. It's just a media bias here that makes you think otherwise.
Here's a chart from Euler Hermes (a unit of Allianz), Protectionism Is Not New: http://www.eulerhermes.com/economic-research/publications/Pa...