As duties and trade restrictions were dropped in the late 70s and 80s, the mantra was that by doing so, the West would "uplift" poorer countries such as China. The goals to improve quality of life, transform the third world from agrarian to mass production, with a hope of spreading democratic principles as well.

And yes, over and over this was the desireded goal, I remember the election campaigns, the speeches, the white papers, the think tanks.

This has mostly been a success, looking at many such countries. The standard of living has gone up, for example China now has a "middle class" of sorts.

Environmental concerns were not on the radar at the time, not 50 years ago, not like today.

The intentions were reasonably positive and well founded. Of course, I agree reassessment is necessary, and it really should always be.

It was great for short term profit and stock value and everyone involved in making those choices is either dead or soon to be dead and doesn’t have to deal with the fallout.