The jury's out on this one. The effects international free trade can have on existing industries can be devastating as jobs are rerouted from rural manufacturing areas to the neighborhood of transshipment ports. The US since the adoption of NAFTA has resulted in a sharpening of the divide between rural America and the cities, and has brought mass poverty, unemployment, and associated ills to communities that were previously dependent on protected factory jobs. And although new jobs have been created in the cities, these jobs have been fewer, higher paying, and requiring a different skillset.

As a result of free trade, we therefore have: (1) higher unemployment, (2) higher concentration of wealth, (3) a great migration that has disrupted rural and family identities, and (4) increased instances of opioid and meth additions and related problems (violence, burglaries, etc.) across the board but especially in those same "left behind" communities.

But hey, our GDP is up. So by the only metric economists look at, I guess it was a success.