Ricardo's Theory of Comparative Advantage was formulated in the early 1800s, when the world was just entering the industrial age. It is intuitively appealing but it is based on the "free market" which has never existed note does it consider factors like currency manipulation,  etc.  In the 80s. neo-con/ liberals,  the mouthpiece of greedy multi-corps, used it to allay public fears of job loss, saying the West's economy should be service based. They ignored that manufacturing jobs are better paid, have the highest job multiplier which leaves devastation in small communities with shuttered factories.  New inventions, too come from manufacturing R & D, not services.s More important, they only give lip service to retraining for those who lose their jobs.  When the "service" economy sputtered, the same group said that the knowledge economy is the future, but now a lot of that has been off shored to India. So whether you like Trump or not, this article has merit.