Money is not “energy”. Just the opposite: money represents the consumption of energy.

Our “economic decline” (assuming there is such a thing) is not because of free trade, though certainly free trade can multiply the effects of poor economic policies.

The very simple reason for moving manufacturing off shore - and I should note that outside of the really cheap articles one finds at Walmart it is just as easy to find goods that say “made in Mexico” or Bangladesh or Pakistan or Indonesia… - is costs, and not just labor costs.

However, the choice to build or not build a manufacturing plant in the US is just that - a choice. Quality costs and as long as the American wants to buy only the cheapest of goods then suppliers will have to make the cheapest of goods, and that means the servile wages paid in most countries.