He's referring to how the US was incredibly tariff heavy between 1789 and the early 1900s. During this time, there was little to no industry in the US and they imported most of their stuff from Britan, which obviously wasn't something they were too happy about. The new country went hard with the tariffs and it helped the country grow its own domestic industries.

Of course, it's not the 1800s anymore and expecting that implementing the same government policies from that time will make the country better is idiotic. This is a way to fund tax breaks to billionaires and corporations by heavily taxing the average American and having them think it's patriotic.