Much has been made of reinvigorating America's manufacturing sector. President Barack Obama says he wants to double U.S. exports in five years, which would help manufacturing.

Though laudable goals, several recent news reports illustrate the challenges involved in boosting exports and adding manufacturing jobs in the U.S.

Last week, Obama touted an 18 percent increase in U.S. exports in the past year. He commented on the positive development and repeated his goal of doubling exports.

But on the same day that Obama was boasting about the increase in U.S. exports, it was reported that America's trade deficit had grown for the fourth straight quarter.

So, even though exports grew, imports, mostly imports from China, grew even more — hence America's huge trade deficit.

Some analysts noted a silver lining in the trade deficit cloud — higher imports mean Americans are spending more and that suggests modest economic recovery.

Related to the trade deficit news, Washington politicians last week were talking about getting tough with China. Of course, since it's campaign season, politicians will talk tough about China, which is accused of keeping its currency artificially low to boost its exports.

But there is not much that Washington politicians or the U.S. can do, other than talk, because China is America's banker. Members of Congress know this too; they're responsible for the massive deficit spending that China finances.

Since China finances most of America's budget deficits, the U.S. is dependent on China's continued willingness to purchase government debt. Like a person deeply in debt trying to press his or her bank to reduce fees, the U.S. has little leverage.

Additional problems facing Obama's goal to boost exports and rebuild U.S. manufacturing are illustrated by a story about the simple light bulb.

A 2007 energy conservation law passed by Congress will phase out the incandescent light bulb by 2014. In anticipation of that, the last General Electric light bulb factory in the U.S. will close this month.

The traditional light bulb is facing extinction because it wastes energy by producing more heat than light. Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) use less energy and last longer, but they involve a design of twisted glass tubes and are challenging to make.

Despite being developed by engineers in the U.S., nearly all CFLs are made overseas.

Even more energy-efficient and long-lasting than CFLs, the next generation of lights use light-emitting diodes, or LEDs.

Again, the engineering and design have been done in America, but manufacturing could end up overseas. The Washington Post published an article about an LED bulb company in Florida that won a contract to sell its bulbs to Home Depot. And despite wanting to employ Americans, the owners say they are being tempted to move production to China or Mexico as production ramps up.

In addition to lower labor costs, China and Mexico are offering cash incentives for equipment worth millions of dollars. In response, the U.S. offered some lower-cost financing through the federal stimulus program, but company owners say the process has been cumbersome and the incentives less valuable.

Price competition drives companies to seek the lowest-cost manufacturing, which often means factories outside the United States.

It turns out that most incentive programs to keep or attract manufacturing jobs come from states or municipalities, which don't have the budgets to compete with foreign governments.

Given that reality, it's time for the federal government to develop an industrial policy to help restore vitality to the manufacturing sector in this country.

Facing foreign governments' efforts to boost employment in their countries, the United States must do more to help manufacturing. Most Americans want to see U.S manufacturing restored. It's time to get to work.