The more I listen to Donald Trump, the more it seems like he simply doesn't understand how manufacturing and trade actually work.

Over the course of his campaign, Trump has repeated the theme that other nations are getting the best of the United States, resulting in lost jobs and economic opportunity. He went on national television and declared that Ford Motor Co. intended to "fire all their employees in the United States and … move to Mexico."

Ford CEO Mark Fields responded, saying in the clearest terms possible that "not one job will be lost." He added: "Most of our investment is here in the U.S. And that's the way it will continue to be."

In reality, any decline in manufacturing jobs in the U.S. has virtually nothing to do with competition from abroad and everything to do with a massive increase in productivity through the use of technology.

Trump has also made a habit of attacking technology companies, such as Apple, openly suggesting that as president, he would strong-arm the company to build all its products in the U.S. What Trump doesn't say – or, more than likely, doesn't know – is that such a draconian move would do little to create jobs in America and would only result in vastly increased prices for Apple products to U.S. consumers.

Editorial Cartoons on Donald Trump View All 455 Images

As explained by Alex King, director of the Critical Materials Institute, headquartered at the Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory: "An iPhone has about 75 elements in it – two-thirds of the periodic table. Even just the outside of an iPhone relies heavily on materials that aren't commercially available in the U.S. Aluminum comes from bauxite, and there are no bauxite mines in the U.S. ... The elements known as rare earths (which aren't that rare, but are tough to mine) would need to come primarily from China, which produces 85 percent of the world's supply."

Back in 2011, a study published jointly by the Universities of California at Irvine and Berkeley, along with Syracuse, found that while many products such as those made by Apple are manufactured in China, "the primary benefits go to the U.S. economy as Apple continues to keep most of its product design, software development, product management, marketing and other high-wage functions in the U.S. China's role is much smaller than most casual observers would think."

I have spoken with Chinese political leaders who complain angrily that only a few dollars of every iPhone made in China actually goes to Chinese workers and factories. Apple, its shareholders, component suppliers such as Intel, and American consumers are getting more than 90 percent of the benefit from Apple assembling phones in China. And I doubt that Americans, most of whom have at least high school diplomas, would want, desire or take the repetitive, monotonous jobs assembling phones.

The fact that Trump is so willing to publicly attack technology leaders and companies without considering the facts is disturbing. Trump's war on tech underscores his lack of substance and specifics. If he were serious about keeping products made in the U.S., he would abandon his misguided anti-trade and isolationist rhetoric.

With all of Trump's attacks on China and the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, it seems he doesn't understand that the agreement does not even include China. It will actually help American companies compete against China in the Asia-Pacific region. When a tariff is eliminated in Malaysia, for example, U.S. companies will have a lower cost of doing business in Malaysia. But because China is not a member of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Chinese companies will not get the same tariff break.

The 12 nations that are part of the agreement are among the fastest-growing economies in the world and account for 40 percent of global gross domestic product. U.S. technology companies alone exported $10 billion in goods and services to the Trans-Pacific Partnership markets in 2014.

The deal will open or expand access to these key markets for the products, services and applications made by the companies we represent, and facilitate market access for the wide array of industries that rely on these technologies to conduct their own businesses. For the first time in a trade agreement, it will aid internet companies by prohibiting forced data localization.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a historic opportunity to expand U.S. economic leadership in the Asia-Pacific. Failure to pass this agreement would not only disadvantage American companies and the Americans who work for those companies, it would hamper the ability to negotiate new agreements, or even improve existing ones.

The more Trump attacks free trade, the more likely companies will avoid doing business in America, which will result in lost jobs. In fact, Trump's trade policies would lead the U.S. into a recession and cost 4 million private-sector jobs, according to a report by the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Thankfully, even as a President Trump would not have the ability to make good on his promise to "rip up" existing trade agreements, as these are laws passed by Congress, and presidents take an oath to uphold the law.