In short, yes. I believe that some kind of "trade war" between the US and Japan was more or less inevitable by the 1980s, barring some sort of major intervention in the issue. While it's obviously a complicated issue, I believe that RFK and the Democrats will probably need to shift left in favor of (at least some) protectionist policies in order to really secure the continued support of labor unions in their base. In all likelihood, Kennedy will try to pursue a middle course between the extremes - Fair Trade - emphasizing support of higher tariffs for particularly vulnerable industries while pushing for lower tariffs on other goods. This nationalist, populist position, if adopted, will probably make Kennedy popular among union men and women, but it will also make him an easy target for the Republican Party, who will no doubt claim that RFK and the Democrats are "driving up prices" and "bringing back inflation" by opposing free trade. If this is the course that the Democrats take in the 80s here, I can see the GOP going hard into neoliberal economics, deregulation, and free trade to differentiate themselves. Electorally, this probably helps Democrats in the Midwest/Rust Belt but hurts them in the South and emerging Sun Belt.
I do have some basic ideas for the film adaptation ITTL. While I feel that Spielberg probably did the best he could, he was also probably right in his initial assessment that he didn't have the personal connection with either the source material or the deep South to really do a film adaptation justice. Even with a (somewhat) more progressive 1980s here, this is still the 1980s we're talking about. If you're going to have the relationship between Celie and Shug be more explicit, I think you're going to limit the mass-market appeal of the film somewhat. That is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, I'd argue that Spielberg's decision to minimize their relationship was a mistake; I've read that he later regretted it. But that will require that the studio who takes on the film be open to that idea. Maybe its producers and Alice Walker can sell the project to Warner Bros. (or whoever buys the film rights) as a "prestige picture". This version would (ideally) be helmed by an African American filmmaker, or at the very least, someone to whom the novel means a great deal. Its box office could be slightly lower than IOTL (due to backlash to the openly lesbian relationship). On the other hand, the controversy could lead the LGBT+ and African American communities to rally around the film and really drive turnout to go see it. I'm open to suggestions beyond this, of course.
