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Notes -
Yes to clause one, half-yes to clause two.
If free trade does not produce as necessity holistic benefits, it is not an economic benefit. Policies based on "in benefiting a narrow percent of the population this may incentivize behavior that will yield wide benefits" are not holistic; policies based on "this will yield wide benefits" are holistic. Where FTAs yield the former, yes, where they yield the latter, no.
FTAs do benefit most people. They harm people in industries that are not internationally competitive, but most people don't work in those industries and benefit from e.g. cheaper car prices.
International competitiveness has only rarely been about a country that can deliver a superior product. In all other cases it has meant corporations can spend less and make more by outsourcing labor. Had, for example, it never been legal for Chinese-made products to be sold in this country, or not without tariffs tailored to make it prohibitive for companies to outsource their labor to China, they would have never been competitive. What was the benefit, Walmart? Some benefit.
If your position is that cheaper goods don't benefit Americans, you should just go ahead and lay your cards on the table.
As it is, I pointed out an industry in which imports were so much better than domestic production that they practically killed the domestic industry (cars) and you're bringing up walmart (who mostly makes money from groceries anyway) as a retort. It's a complete non-sequitur.
Cheaper goods are only a benefit if employment/real wages either remain consistent or rise. Cheaper goods don't do anyone any good if it comes at the cost of income.
Fortunately, real median wages have been going up for the past 28 years.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q
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