>It is important to note that practically no economist believes that free trade is not a net positive for all countries. Yes, on average it's a net positive.

>It is important to note that practically no economist believes that free trade is not a net positive for all countries. Yes, on average it's a net positive. Of course, if you average +20 for capital with -15 for labor, you get +5, a "net positive" for "society overall", with the slight unexamined problem that capital and labor increasingly don't overlap. Economists have always said that some state action would be necessary to compensate the sections of the working class harmed by competition with cheaper overseas labor. The state, being run by ideologues trying to strengthen capital over labor, never took any of the corrective actions recommended by trade economists.