<i>but all those other free trade deals were positive</i><p>In economics, &quot;free trade creates additional wealth for all involved&quot; is closer to consensus among economists than is &quot;the Earth is warming&quot; is among climatologists. The paper [1] that the OP references does itself say that their conclusion is peculiar to the circumstances of China:<p>&quot;While these results do not at all suggest that international trade is in the aggregate harmful to nations--indeed, China&#x27;s unprecedented rise from widespread poverty bears testimony to trade&#x27;s transformative economic power--it makes clear that trade not only has benefits but also significant costs.&quot;<p><i>but NAFTA was a massive job killer</i><p>As it happens, Don Boudreaux [2] just published something relating directly to this:<p>&quot;since NAFTA took effect Mexicans have invested more – 59 percent more, to be precise – in manufacturing activities in the U.S. than Americans have invested in manufacturing activities in Mexico.&quot;<p>Quoting Confucius again:<p><i>Obviously you&#x27;ve never worked there!</i><p>No, I haven&#x27;t. But I&#x27;ve been there many times, and know many people who do work there. What I&#x27;ve observed myself is that for the average person on the street in Shanghai - say, someone making and selling pork buns, or a farmer bringing in a cart of vegetables from the country - there seems to be a significant laissez-faire attitude. At a larger scale - what we&#x27;re talking about for international trade - my perception is that while China may have many barriers, knowing the right people and being able to &quot;grease the wheels&quot;, makes things proceed relatively easily. In America our regulations are taken much more seriously - we don&#x27;t have anything like their degree of corruption, but we also don&#x27;t have that as a means to get around onerous rules.<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ddorn.net&#x2F;papers&#x2F;Autor-Dorn-Hanson-ChinaShock.pdf" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ddorn.net&#x2F;papers&#x2F;Autor-Dorn-Hanson-ChinaShock.pdf</a><p>[2] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;cafehayek.com&#x2F;2016&#x2F;01&#x2F;which-way-flow-the-equity-investments-in-manufacturing.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;cafehayek.com&#x2F;2016&#x2F;01&#x2F;which-way-flow-the-equity-inves...</a><p>EDIT: formatting