Global free trade talks collapse

"But Azevedo said the failure to reach a global deal leaves poorer countries worse off."

That's true. But success would have come at the expense of workers in advanced countries...like us! Why should we support policies that hurt us?

But success would have come at the expense of workers in advanced countries

Sure? Can you explain why?

"Sure? Can you explain why?"

Because tariffs help protect domestic industries and preserve quality jobs at home. If we have to compete more directly with Vietnamese workers, we will become poorer.

After the NAFTA, the first real modern FTA, US workers wages' stagnated then shrank as much US industrial production moved to cheaper Mexico. We were told it would usher in greater prosperity. The opposite occurred.

In Canada, intensified competition from the US wiped out much of the local lumber industry. Quite a few of the laid off lumberjacks went into the narcotics industry, and the ensuing social costs have been enormous (but not recorded in economic data).

The postwar arrangement of protected markets and tariffs was much kinder to workers in the West. That's indisputable.