That could easily be true, but you need to argue that with the unions who are demanding government action on Chinese imports depressing world markets. The unions must know that the government can't do the necessary within the EU framework. So.. both the Tories and the unions are either kidding themselves or kidding us - you choose!
This is currently labelled as one of those "wicked" issues to which there is no easy solution. But it's certainly not one of those; like the resurrection of our fishing and other "strategic" industries there is a very straightforward solution: leave the political EU!
Trade and politics do not mix, and the Common Market was sold to the British people as a free trade area. It's time to call the politician's bluff and get back to fundamentals. As you imply, we have a trade deficit with the EU, and they depend on our contributions to keep the whole political project afloat. We call the shots here, and if you meekly accept the EUphile's argument that we are in any way dependant on the EU for survival, you dramatically sell our great country short!