> "tariffs imposed during the 19th century spurred industrialization and ultimately positioned America as a global superpower"

it's not "the one thing", which contributed to it. There are multiple factors which spurred industrialization, some of them are:

   * Europe and Japan was destroyed and they had other problems to deal with
   * Soviet Union was seen as an enemy
   * Many US soldiers returned home from war and they needed a job
   * When many people started working in manufacturing, they needed different optimizations for their process, which lead to more manufacturing

Tariffs may have helped, but they were not the only reason. as an example, look at Brazil today, they have lots and lots of tariffs