Also, adding China to the WTO was probably a bad thing for the lower half of the income distribution in the developed world.
If China and other countries are bringing 1B+ people online to make products at a fifth of your wages, then it is only a matter of time before the buyers outside the country start buying from them.
What happened was that American (and European) corporations started producing their goods in other countries, because it was cheaper for them.
Like, I would have no issue with this in general if China developed their own companies, rather than already profitable US companies slashing their labour costs massively by using cheaper labour. It's super problematic, and while one can argue it's been good for the world, it's been pretty crap for all the manual/manufacturing workers in the US, Uk and other developed countries.
Full disclosure: I'm from Ireland, and this sort of outsourcing was what employed my Dad (and now me).
I am sure Kissinger played a part in many things, but he seems small pickles compared to labor costs (and hence quality of life) in the US being multiple standard deviations above the mean compared to the rest of the world.
How long did people expect that arbitrage opportunity to not be taken advantage of?