There’s zero universe where China is a more reliable trading partner.

What on earth are you talking about? China's not the one bouncing their tariffs back and forth like a yo-yo. China's not the one abrogating existing free trade agreements every time the head of state gets annoyed with some unrelated aspect of other nation's conduct. China's not the one trying to completely upend the established rules of international trade.

You know, I read these statements and people forget about all the quotas and levies slapped on US goods that made it tough for us to compete for a long time…

And we had some, too. Canada's got quotas and tariff quotas on certain ag products (like eggs and milk), and we've got some on certain Canadian products (like lumber and steel). But for the most part, trade with Canada was largely unrestricted under NAFTA - until Trump decided to just ignore our prior commitments. That we agreed to.

I don't really understand what you're thinking, here. Was the idea that the U.S. would unilaterally reset all the terms of trade that have been in place for decades....and no one would react? That no one would take measures to respond to a previously stable set of trade practices becoming subject to whatever the President decided on any given day they should be?