A legislated "Buy American" clause starting a trade war is not a good idea nor is it needed. Americans need to get over the idea that the things they produce are shoddy and buy more from their own manufacturers.
American cars are good cars. Some of the models are wrong, there is room for improvement, but the quality is good enough for the average person. There have been huge improvements since the 1980's.
I guess part of the problem is that so many manufacturing jobs have been shipped overseas over the past thirty years, you just don't make stuff anymore. I recently read that the number of manufacturing jobs in the states is 12.6 million. This the lowest number since the late 1940's. 3 million jobs were axed between 2000 and 2006 alone. It's not all outsourcing of course. Manufacturing is much more efficient today than in the 1950's. Workers doing repetitive assembly tasks have been replaced with robots and 'lean manufacturing' practices (think Dell), are replacing the old 'command and control' style of management. But many producers have found it cheaper to simply close the factory and relocate or outsource overseas, rather than redesign plants and retrain workers.
The US trade deficit has been growing for years. In 2007 was 700 billion dollars. How long can a nation afford to keep this kind of spending levels?
American companies should produce more in the US and be willing to sacrifice a little profit to do so. American consumers should think about where their dollars go when they spend them and make choices that benefit their country.