[Pearls Before Swine]

Free trade is mostly a good thing. However, the models on which economists base their assumptions assume that labor is perfectly mobile and easily retrainable. When I take into account the societal costs of predatory trading by mercantilist state actors, I doubt this is completely true.

As a wild example, suppose one country targets an industry--say steel or autos, and sells at a loss to build up its industry and employment, so that the industry moves to the new country. If all of the workers in the old country are suddenly unemployed, or underemployed can't be quickly retrained and moved to areas that need them, you get.... Detroit?

[1rudeboy]

Detroit is Detroit for a host of other reasons, but other than that you still have a valid point.