Everyone is talking about masks but most of the argument is about free trade and I think his point is not really well made. The experts were all pretty clear that free trade would have losers and explained what sort of work needed to happen to remedy them. The shortfall was in the politics and policy making circles. None of those remedies were ever enacted. Bills like NAFTA did, in fact, have provisions to help domestic workers who would lose their livelihoods they were just woefully insufficient. The 90s and 2000s were marked not just by growing international trade, but by growing inequality. Remedies like progressive taxation, higher min wage, stronger unions and affordable college would offset a lot of the losses due to trade but there was no political will to take those on.