Free trade and globalization have been around a lot longer than most of us here have been alive, maybe all of is

It has been a rising tide that lifts all boats on our blue marble

All of us, presuming that there's no-one here aged over 200.

I hear the bicentennials are happily collecting social security or serving in congress

The FTA was Reagan/Mulroney era policy. It was enacted by conservatives on both sides of the border, and the liberals on both sides "opposed" it (and then had a religious conversion once they took power again, and supported its successor, NAFTA).

The 88 election debate in Canada is famous for the confrontations around this topic. I was in my early teens it was the first election debate I remember watching and having strong opinions about.

"Free trade", as a named policy position, goes back to the 19th century, though as a _thing_ it's somewhat older.

In particular it was a major political controversy in the UK for most of the 19th century.